


Vita Mutatur, Non Tollitur

by sharkie335



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Clint Barton Is a Good Bro, F/M, M/M, Pepper Potts is a good person, Phil Coulson Has the Patience of a Saint, Sentinel Fusion, Sentinel Senses, Steve Rogers is too stubborn for his own good, Tony Stark is oblivious sometimes, dub con implicit in A/B/O
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-16 19:00:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 40,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16500950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharkie335/pseuds/sharkie335
Summary: Alphas have enhanced senses, and require an Omega to stay grounded and sane.  Project Rebirth changed Steve Rogers into an Alpha, butmore- he also has eidetic memory, super strength, and other things that make him a super soldier.  It also means that he's even more dependent on having a compatible Omega.Tony is an Omega, but he's involved with Pepper, and not interested in a bond with Rogers. Or is he?Title artHospital scene art





	Vita Mutatur, Non Tollitur

**Author's Note:**

> Title translates to "Life is changed, not taken away." 
> 
> Poisontaster and Eternalmusings did so much work on this story they practically deserve co-writing credit. If you like all the feelings in the story, or if you hate them, the praise/blame goes to Poisontaster whose questions included things like, "How does this make Steve feel IN HIS PANTS", and "Give me some actual feelings here."
> 
> The story that takes the [Sentinel Trope](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Sentinel_AU) and the [A/B/O trope](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Alpha/Beta/Omega), pushes them together, and says, NOW KISS.
> 
> There is dubcon implicit in A/B/O by definition, but Steve and Tony do the best they can to make sure everything is as consensual as possible.
> 
> The artwork zhyn did is AMAZING and can be found [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16583801)

**1\. Steve**

Steve watched, his heart in his throat, as Stark plummeted from the sky. Beside him, Thor was swinging his hammer, obviously getting ready to try and catch him. But before his feet left the ground, the Hulk appeared from out of nowhere, grabbing Stark and using a building to slow their descent. When they hit the ground, Steve and Thor were already running to get to them; at Stark’s side within a few seconds of impact.

When Stark didn’t immediately move or speak, Thor ripped off his face mask, tossing it away, and Steve leaned forward to listen for breathing, holding his own. When there was no sign of it, he panicked for just a moment before recalling the CPR classes that SHIELD had forced him to take. Clearly he couldn’t do chest compressions, but he could at least try to get Stark breathing.

Sliding one hand under his neck, Steve gently tipped Stark’s head back, hoping against hope that there weren’t any spinal injuries that he was aggravating. Leaning forward, he pressed his lips against Stark's, blowing in an effort to fill his lungs.

In less than a second, Stark was inhaling against his mouth and, as Steve sat back on his heels, it was like the world exploded into color.

**2\. Tony**

Inhaling hurt like a son of a bitch. _Everything_ hurt like a son of a bitch, and for some reason he was lying on his back, looking up at Hulk, Rogers, and Thor. “What the hell? What happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me.”

Rogers in particular looked like he was poleaxed, but Thor said, “We appear to have beaten the Chitauri.”

“All right. Hey. All right. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let’s just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it.” Tony tried to push up off the ground, only to have the world spin around him. Cap made a move towards him, but hesitated weirdly. It was actually the Hulk who hauled him up to his feet, which, _ow_.

“But we’re not finished yet,” Thor finished, and Tony wanted to cry, he really did. All he wanted was a shower, a glass of scotch, and bed. And not necessarily in that order. 

“We have to deal with Loki,” Thor continued, and for that, Tony would crawl through fire.

As he looked around the remains of downtown Manhattan, he couldn’t help the thought that he might actually have to do that.

Cap radioed Agent Romanoff to find out where she was. She told them that Barton had already been found, which was good news since the rooftop where Tony had dropped him was ashes. They made their way to the balcony outside Tony’s living room, which was where they were going to find Loki, according to her.

Hulk made it to the balcony in one jump. Tony wanted to fly himself, but this suit was barely walking under its own power. It certainly wasn’t flying. Thor at least did him the courtesy of carrying him up first, since it was his fucking place.

As they gathered on the balcony, Tony couldn’t help but notice the weird looks that Rogers was giving him. But he hurt all over, his penthouse was trashed, and they still had a god of mischief to deal with; Rogers being weird was _way_ down on his list of priorities right now.

They found Loki lying in what looked like a pit in the middle of the living room. Hulk snorted, and if Tony had to guess, he would have said that it was either amusement or satisfaction. “You do this, big guy?”

“Hulk smash,” Hulk said agreeably, but then Loki started to move, and everyone turned to face him. 

Barton, who looked to be in the worst shape of all of them, grunted as he pulled back the string on his bow. Loki looked up at them, sighed, and said, “If it's all the same to you, I think I’ll have that drink now.”

“Time’s definitely up on that offer, you fucker,” Tony said. Rogers and Thor both moved forward, getting to Loki at the same time and pulling him to his feet. 

“What are we going to do with him?” Romanoff asked.

“Well, if he can handle the Hulk trying to smash him in to paste, I guess throwing him off the building probably won’t break him into little pieces,” Tony said.

“Asgard has an inescapable cell. After his behavior, I am sure that Odin would be in favor of keeping him there,” Thor said. “Truly, I fear there is nowhere on Earth that can keep him imprisoned.”

“I think we should see if he can survive an arrow through the eye,” Barton said, and Tony could sympathize, he absolutely could, but Barton was going to be facing enough issues with SHIELD if they were anything like the agencies that Tony was used to dealing with. Better to get Loki gone.

“I vote with Thor,” Rogers said, surprising Tony, who would have bet that Rogers would have wanted to hand him over to SHIELD. Then he surprised Tony again by turning to Barton and said, “I won’t tell anyone if you want to punch him first, though.” 

Tony had a passing thought that Rogers was kind of hot when he didn't have a stick up his ass. He then pushed that down. It wasn't exactly the time or place, and besides, he had Pepper who was better than any Alpha. And that included the fact that Rogers was a supersoldier even by Alpha standards. 

“Not quite what I want to do,” Barton said, but he must have found it a fair compromise, because he was already releasing the draw on the bow and setting it carefully on the ground.

“I don’t think - “ Loki started to say, only to be interrupted by Hulk’s roar.

“I’m pretty sure your choices are to take the punch from Barton or for another round with the Hulk,” Rogers said, and Tony couldn’t help but stare at him. His voice and even his words were reasonable enough… well, reasonable enough considering the damage Loki was responsible for… but there was something about his voice that was tickling at the back of Tony’s brain. He’d figure it out later when he didn’t hurt so badly.

Rogers and Thor held Loki steady as Hawkeye lined up and threw a textbook-beautiful punch, landing right below Loki’s right eye. If Loki had been anyone but an Asgardian, Tony would have bet on it fracturing his eye socket, but as it was, Loki just staggered in their grip. When he was steady on his feet again, Thor pushed Loki down so that he was sitting on the floor, and then set his hammer on Loki’s legs.

The legends of Thor’s hammer must have had some, heh, _weight_ , because Loki just got a resigned look on his face and didn’t even try to push the hammer away. Thor turned his back, visibly dismissing Loki as a concern. “I don’t trust that someone won’t try to prevent us from leaving,” Thor said. “I suggest that we do this as soon as possible.”

“Agreed,” Rogers said, and again, his voice felt like it was tugging at Tony’s guts. “But I think we can take long enough for everyone to clean up. And we’re going to need some way for you to transport the tesseract with you.”

“Hey, no one said anything about Thor taking that,” Tony said, mostly because he felt it needed to be said. “It _is_ an energy source that we could use.”

Rogers started to nod, then shook his head. “It’s not safe here. Even if I trusted every single person at SHIELD, there are other groups that would try to take it. It would cause another world war, and I’ve already lived through one of those. We just need to find a way for it to be transported.”

“When I came, I brought a containment device. I left it where I came to land on Midgard - not far from where we fought our first battle,” Thor said. 

“Good thinking. Now how do we get it here without letting Loki up?” Rogers asked.

Romanoff cleared her throat. “SHIELD may have made note of where the… Bifrost, isn’t it?” At Thor’s nod, she continued, “The Bifrost made landfall. And I might have those coordinates memorized, because it might have seemed like an important thing to know.”

Rogers chuckled, Thor did something that had to be called a guffaw, and even Barton and the Hulk cracked smiles. “I don’t suppose you have a suit capable of flight,” she asked, turning to look at Tony. 

“If I don’t have to fight any battles, the suit I was wearing on the helicarrier should get me there and back,” Tony said, even as his body screamed for rest. 

“It’d be faster than a quinjet,” Romanoff said.

“And it wouldn’t require SHIELD’s help,” Tony said, instantly understanding. “I can do it.”

"He came to land near the top of Kandel mountain, coordinates 49°05'14.2" North 8°13'30.6" East.” She turned to look at Thor. “Where should he look from there?”

“The Bifrost leaves distinctive marks on the ground,” Thor said. “If you go due north about 200 feet, there are bushes there. It’s hidden securely under them.”

“Is it metal?” Tony asked.

“Aye, a gold alloy to hold the Tesseract safely,” Thor said. 

“Easy enough. If I can’t find it quickly, JARVIS will be able to use the sensors on the suit to locate it.” God, he wanted a drink and to sleep for about a week. “Everyone take the chance to rest up, I shouldn’t be long.”

He met everyone’s eyes, and Rogers was looking at him like Tony’d probably look at a glass of scotch right now, honestly, but it didn’t matter. No one argued, so he headed down to his workshop to get into the poor beaten suit.

Walking away from everyone, there was that tugging sensation again, but Tony had a mission, and he’d long since learned to ignore his own needs when he had to.

**3\. Steve**

With Tony out of sight, Steve felt the world dim again. He didn’t know if Tony knew he was an Omega, didn’t know if he’d even be willing to bond once he figured it out. As hot as he found Stark, the man had a girl, and if Stark could fight the draw that was already burning in Steve’s gut, then Steve wasn’t going to force himself on the man. If he didn’t, well, honestly, Fury was probably going to arrest all of them, so it didn’t really matter. He could go quietly mad in jail.

The elevator dinged, and all of them looked up. “I thought there was no power to the building,” Steve said. 

“It’s independent of the power grid,” Romanoff said. “The issue wasn’t whether there was power to get up here. The issue was whether the elevators were structurally sound.”

The doors slid open, and Coulson stepped through, and everyone. Stopped.

In the dead silence that followed, Hulk made a small sound and suddenly shrunk down, leaving Bruce Banner standing in his place, holding up his pants. Everyone else just stared at Coulson.

“You’re dead,” he heard himself say, but he didn’t remember making the decision to say it. Steve had heard it, had heard Fury say that the medics had called it, had seen the blood stain on the wall. 

Next to him, Barton made a tiny broken noise and threw himself forward, only to be stopped by Romanoff grabbing him by the shoulder. “It’s him, Natasha. Don’t you think I’d know if it wasn’t?”

She didn’t release her grip. “Clint, Fury said he was dead. Are you sure?” 

Barton gave her a look of anguish. “What the hell? He was dead?” He glanced over at Coulson, who was standing just inside the open doors of the elevator but not moving. “He’s not dead, Natasha. I can smell him. I’m sure that that’s him.”

She hesitated for a moment and then let go, and Steve watched as Barton charged across the penthouse, only pulling up when Coulson held up a hand. “Sir?” he asked. 

“While tales of my demise were greatly exaggerated, Loki still did a number on me, Clint. I probably shouldn’t be out of medical just yet,” Coulson said. “So gently, okay?”

"What did Natasha mean, that you were dead?" Clint demanded. "You don't look dead to me."

Overlapping with Clint, Loki said. “I stabbed you through the chest. This can’t be.”

Thor looked furious, turning and advancing on Loki, who didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed or worried. Thor’s advance was arrested by Coulson saying, “It wasn’t me. I wasn’t stupid enough to confront you in person.”

Barton's eyes widened and he whispered, “It was a Life Model Decoy? I thought those weren’t being used yet.”

“Generally, they’re not,” Coulson said, reaching towards Barton and tugging him in close. “But with Loki on board, Fury expected an escape attempt and I’m the one with the most experience with one. So I got handed one, along with strict instructions to send it, instead of going personally, if Loki tried to escape.”

“What the hell is a Life Model Decoy?” Steve demanded. “And how did it replace you, right down to blood?”

Coulson sighed, draping one arm over Barton’s shoulder. His body language shifted, becoming much more comfortable and relaxed. “It’s Stark tech, and I’m not completely sure how it works. Think of it like a human-shaped robot, capable of fooling almost anyone. It’s controlled mentally by the person it’s shaped like, and injury to the robot hurts the person controlling it, too. Sort of like biofeedback. So, I wasn’t actually stabbed through the chest, but I still hurt like I was.”

Barton didn’t seem to care, practically cuddling up to Coulson. He murmured to Coulson, “I wondered why I didn’t have you in my ear, sir.”

Steve wasn’t sure what to make of all of this, but he glanced around at everyone else. Romanoff was nodding, as was Banner. Thor just looked thoughtful. Loki looked annoyed, probably at his failure to actually kill the person who dared confront him during his escape.

Deciding that thinking any more about it was going to make his brain hurt more than it already did, he opted for the next best thing - doing something else. The beginnings of the bond that had started with Tony was making his thoughts foggy, hard to figure out what the next step was. He focused on just putting one foot in front of the other for the moment. “I guess we should clean up while we wait for Tony,” he said. “I just wish I had something other than this to wear.”

Coulson cleared his throat. “There’s a bag in the elevator with clothes in it for you, Natasha, and Clint. Doctor Banner, you appear to be about the same size as Stark and I’m sure under these circumstances he wouldn’t mind you borrowing something. JARVIS can advise you where to look. Thor - “

“I will wear what I have on now, after I clean myself,” Thor said, his voice serious. “It is appropriate for when I take Loki to appear in front of the Allfather.”

“Good, you _are_ planning to take him back to Asgard. We don’t have an adequate place to imprison him here on Earth.” Coulson turned his head and pressed his face against Barton’s hair for a brief moment before gently pushing him away. “Go on now. I know for a fact there are enough bathrooms in this place that you can all shower at once, and enough guest bedrooms for everyone to take a nap for an hour or two.” When Barton looked mutinous, Coulson held up a hand. “I’m not going anywhere, I promise. I fully intend to have a seat on that couch and rest as well. Someone needs to keep an eye on Loki, anyway, and with him pinned to the floor, he’s harmless. Now go.”

Natasha went to the elevator and brought out a duffle bag, which true to Coulson’s word contained some of Steve’s clothes. Clinging to the thought that he just had to get through this hellishly long day, Steve went searching for a bathroom, passing Banner in the hall who was clutching clothing in one hand. 

The shower that he found may have been the best thing he’d discovered so far in 2012. The pressure was amazing and there seemed to be no limit to the hot water. Steve just stood there for several long moments, letting the water beat down on him and relax muscles that had passed sore and just left exhaustion instead. Eventually, he opened his eyes to find some soap, only to be boggled by the sheer amount of choices on offer. What he wouldn’t give for a plain old bar of Ivory soap. He remembered ads for bath gel and there were several bottles of that, so he sniffed at them until he found one that didn’t smell like it would overwhelm him and started scrubbing.

He was filthy, and it took three tries to get all of the dirt out of his hair, but eventually he felt like he was clean enough to put on decent clothes and go out in public. He tried to summon the energy to turn off the water and dry off, but there was so much…

_a world of bright lights everywhere he looked_

_a world of never ending noise that he didn’t know how to filter or differentiate_

_the smells of hundreds of different cuisines and of thousands of cars in the city that he had known so well but no longer did_

_unfamiliar fabrics and textures that rubbed roughly against his skin feeling like splinters_

_the fact that none of the food tasted right or familiar_

… it was just _exhausting_ in a way that even the war hadn’t been. If he'd known before he agreed to Project Rebirth that it was an attempt to make him an Alpha, he might not have agreed. Especially if they had explained exactly what being made an Alpha would entail in terms of his senses. 

The white noise of the shower and relatively bland scent of the soap relaxed him more, even right out of the fight, than he’d been since he’d woken up. That made the pull towards Tony even harder to ignore. Unlike most Alphas, he'd been able to identify Omegas by scent once he knew what to look for. He had known that Tony was one when they met, but would never have known that they were compatible if he hadn’t touched his bare skin. The ache to do something about it was demanding now that he had, was almost irresistible. He knew from experience with Bucky that resisting that demanding, all-encompassing urge was only going to get harder, and that not bonding was going to either drive him mad or to suicide.

But he knew that Tony had a girl, knew that he had a _life_ , and Omega or not, whether or not Steve was drawn to him, Tony had a right to make his own decisions - as if he could make Stark do anything he didn’t want anyway. The idea of even trying made him smile, just a little.

And right now, there were more important things than one very lonely and exhausted Alpha, even if he _had_ just helped save the world.

**4\. Tony**

As banged up as his suit was, the flight to Germany was neither as fast or as smooth as it should have been. Tony took the opportunity of flying through relatively calm skies to try Pepper again. This time the call went through, as she was currently on the ground in Philadelphia. Thankfully, she sounded stressed but not in tears, and he was able to reassure her that he was in one piece; tired, but fine. 

Romanoff’s coordinates were accurate, and Tony hovered over the knotwork pattern burned into the ground long enough to take pictures. Someone would find them interesting, he was sure. He followed Thor’s directions after landing, and realized that two hundred feet would be deep in a thicket of bushes that showed no signs of someone Thor’s size pushing through. “JARVIS, scan for a gold alloy other than the suit within five hundred feet of my current location.”

“Gold alloy detected,” JARVIS responded, and highlighted a small shape just inside the bushes, about a hundred and seventy feet in front of him. Idly wondering whether Thor had been estimating or if he just had a different conception of the length of a foot, he headed towards it. Opening the mask, he peered at the spot, realizing it had been carefully camouflages by branches being gently pulled into place, but now that he knew where to look, he could just see the glint of something metallic.

He only had to push a few branches out of the way to get a grip on it - a rectangular shape with handles at both ends - and as he started to pull it out, he marveled at how light it was. Then his attention was caught by a red fabric bag hanging from the other handle of the containment device. Closing his mask, he said, “JARVIS, scan. Anything dangerous?”

“It’s another metal alloy,” JARVIS said. “Appears to be silver based, but it’s either inert or an explosive that I haven’t seen before.”

Well, either Thor hadn’t mentioned it because it was safe to handle, or because he wanted to see Tony blown up. Tony hesitated for a moment, then decided that he simply didn’t have the energy to take the risk. “Anyone still connected to the radio frequency we were using, J?”

“There is a live connection, but I can’t tell to who,” JARVIS said. “Should I connect you anyway?”

“Can you guarantee that it’s not Fury or one of his henchmen?” Tony asked. He just was not willing to deal with the man, even if he had been right about the need for them to work together.

“The signal is definitely connecting to the Tower, Sir. I can also block the helicarrier and the SHIELD offices from reading it.”

“Yeah, do that. I need to know if I’m going to get sucked into some other dimension if I touch this bag,” Tony said.

There a moment of silence, and then JARVIS said, “Blocked, sir. You are free to radio the Tower.”

“Thanks, JARVIS. You are the best A.I.” Tony sighed and then said, “Hey, anyone at the Tower hear me?”

“Hello, Stark,” said the last voice that Tony expected to hear.

“No,” he said, and then, “JARVIS, mute call, run voice comparison. Who’s pretending to be Coulson?”

“It appears to actually be Agent Coulson, sir. Voiceprint matches exactly.”

“Well, either I imagined this afternoon, Fury lied, or there’s some other explanation that I just can’t _wait_ to hear. Fine, re-open the connection.”

“Connection open.”

“Tower, respond,” Tony said.

Coulson’s voice came through. “If I do, are you just going to hang up on me again?”

“Normally, yes, but I’m just too fucking tired to deal with this right now,” Tony said. “Fine, somehow you’re sitting in my Tower; I will get the details after a very big glass of scotch. In the meantime, there is a bag containing something metallic attached to the Tesseract containment device. I need someone to ask Thor if it’s safe to move.”

“One second, Mister Stark,” Coulson said, and then Tony could hear low voices talking at the other end. In a few moments, Coulson was back. “Thor says that that’s containment for Loki himself, and safe to move. He apologizes for forgetting to tell you about it.”

“He can apologize in person in a little while. I’ve got the containment device and the bag and am headed back to the Tower. Be there soon.”

“See you soon, Stark.”

Tony carefully pulled free the Tesseract containment and the red bag, made sure his grip on both was secure, and took off at the top speed the suit could manage. JARVIS seemed to realize that Tony was at the end of his energy, because he said, “Sir? The flight to the tower seems to be clear - all civilian aircraft have been grounded due to the situation in New York, and there are no military aircraft on our path back. I know you can’t sleep, but perhaps consider turning over control to me and relaxing a little? This afternoon is going to continue to be stressful until Thor and Loki leave Earth.”

“You’re the best, J. You get us home.” He closed his eyes, blocking out the HUD, and let JARVIS pilot back to the tower.

Coming to a clumsy landing on the balcony, he let the suit mechanism strip the armor away, and, pretending that the massive hole in the window didn’t exist, opened the door and went inside. Loki was still sitting on the floor, being pointedly ignored by Thor, Barton, and Coulson, who were deep in conversation. 

Barton's body language was interesting - he was sitting next to Coulson, but he had one arm wrapped firmly around Coulson's shoulders and the other holding tight to one of Coulson's hands. It was obvious that there was more here than the relationship between two colleagues, but Tony had other things to worry about. 

Barton was clean and in casual clothes, as opposed to his uniform. Thor had clearly showered as well - his hair was still wet - but he was still in his armor. Tony wondered idly if he had people on Asgard to keep that clean or if they used magic.

He’d been able to think since JARVIS had handled piloting duties, so he walked right up to Coulson, flicked him in the forehead, and said, “You son of a bitch. That was one of my LMDs, wasn’t it?”

Coulson gave him a small smile. “I apologize for the subterfuge. It was not my plan, but since it seemed to be working, I agreed to go along with Fury on it. I can definitely give you some feedback on the performance in dangerous situations, however.”

“Oh, you’ll certainly be doing that,” Tony said with a snort. “You’re going to be answering so many questions you’re going to wish that it _had_ been you. In the meantime…” he handed over the containment device to Thor.

"I thank you, Stark," Thor said in the stilted formal way he had, taking both items from him. Setting aside the Tesseract containment device, he opened the bag and pulled out handcuffs and some other piece of what looked like bondage equipment. 

Loki's eyes grew wide at its appearance and said, "Brother, there is no need to do - "

"Now is not the time to argue, Loki. I gave you the opportunity to stop this before it started, and you chose otherwise. You are known as the Father of Lies for a reason, and I have no interest in hearing them. And Odin ordered this if I could return you, as he has no time for them, either." With that, he crossed to where Loki was still pinned to the floor and wrapped it around his head, effectively muzzling him.

"Too bad you couldn't do that earlier," Tony grumbled. "Where is everyone else?"

"They all went to shower and lie down for a while. Everyone is pretty beaten up," Coulson said. Tony started to ask why _Barton_ wasn't lying down, because even cleaned up, he looked like hell, but Barton tipped to the side just then and pressed his cheek to Coulson's shoulder. 

Well, wasn't that interesting. Tony would have guessed that SHIELD had fraternization rules, but if there were these two were breaking them pretty openly. He debated for a moment keeping his mouth shut - he wanted his own shower, dammit, but he found he couldn't resist. "I wouldn't think a suit would be your type, Barton," he said. "Coulson is far too bland for my taste."

Barton snorted. "Dude, he's not just my boyfriend or something. We're bonded."

Tony blinked. Suddenly, a lot of what Barton had been able to do with a bow and some arrows made a lot more sense. "You're an Alpha?"

"Duh. Go shower, Stark. You stink from being cooped up in that tin can. And the sooner you're clean, the sooner we can get rid of this bastard." He casually kicked out and caught Loki in the thigh. From the grunt, Tony counted on it catching a bruise.

"Fine, fine." He headed to the master suite. There was a bar in there, and he was definitely going to get a drink before he got in the shower. Everyone could wait that long.

He was kind of glad that he hadn't known sooner that Barton was an Alpha. Now that he was thinking about it, he wasn't surprised that SHIELD had them as agents, but he wouldn't have pegged Coulson as an Omega, much less one in a bonded pair, because he didn’t act anything like any Omega he’d ever read about or met. It was definitely something to think about when he had the time. Or maybe never. Never would be fine, too. Romanoff's insistence that they not tell Barton that Coulson was dead made sense, because things might have turned out very differently if Barton had been suicidal.

He idly wondered if they had a couple of brats in some sort of safehouse. Tony’s Omega-status was something that was carefully secreted away - as far as he knew, only Pepper and maybe Rhodey knew. And Pepper knew only because he'd been drunk and thinking about Yinsen, and had blurted out that it wasn't just his heart that had been damaged in that attack. He certainly wasn't going to go looking for an Alpha when he was sterile anyway. 

Things were better than they'd been when he was a kid. He still remembered the way that some of the kids had talked about Omegas at school - surprisingly, it was one bias that his father hadn't seemed to share - and everyone there had thought that heats and baby-making made Omegas the much less useful half of a bonded pair. 

These days it was acknowledged that Alphas weren't anywhere near as useful without Omegas, so the bias was less. But it was still there, and he didn't want to deal with it in his life. He'd met a few bonded pairs when he was still doing military work, and while he envied their closeness, he didn't think it was worth his independence, anyway. 

**5\. Steve**

Steve hadn't thought he'd be able to sleep, but the robot in the ceiling - JARVIS, as it had introduced itself - had directed him to a spare bed, and he ended up lying down just out of exhaustion. Everything hurt. His _hair_ hurt.

The ceiling seemed a safe place to stare as he thought about all of the Omegas that SHIELD had “oh so casually” paraded in front of him. Of course, the only one that he had found to be compatible was already in a relationship. Plus, Stark seemed perfectly happy without an Alpha in his life. Forcing his thoughts away, he tried to just rest and mentally count his bruises, but he could see the damn brush marks in the paint and he got lost in trying to trace them, losing track of everything else. He didn't realize how deep he'd fallen into it, until he was being roughly shaken.

The smell was both familiar and not, even if the touch wasn't, and it was enough to force his eyes away from the ceiling. He turned his head to see an impatient Stark standing next to the bed. "Finally," he said. "We've been trying to get you awake for the last ten minutes."

"Wasn't sleeping," Steve said automatically, and then looked around the room. Coulson was there, as was Romanoff. Both of them had equally calculating looks on their faces that Steve decided that he didn’t like.

Stark grunted in what appeared to be annoyance. "Come on, we're ready to send Thor and Loki back, now that you're no longer imitating Sleeping Beauty."

Steve sat up and started to reach for Stark, only to pull back when the man flinched as if Steve had tried to hit him. "Stark - " he started, not sure what he was going to say, but knowing that it had to be something.

But Stark turned his back, flinging back over his shoulder, "There's nothing to talk about, Rogers. Come on, up and at 'em and let's get them gone so that we can start getting life back to normal." The door slammed as Stark stormed through it. Even through his foggy state, he knew that something was badly wrong with what had just happened, but he couldn’t begin to figure it out.

Head aching from the zone that Stark had pulled him from, Steve sighed and started to push himself up from the bed. Coulson shook his head at him, though. "Take a moment, Captain. If you try to get up too fast, you'll hurt yourself."

His sense of smell caught the whiff of something familiar, now that his senses were coming back online fully, and he pulled away from Coulson's hand. "You're a bonded Omega," he said. 

"Yes, and I'm headed into heat, so I agree with Stark that getting Thor and Loki back to Asgard is important, even for mostly the same reasons. I still don't want you to be injured."

"Did you try to pull me back?" Steve asked curiously.

"Only after Agent Romanoff failed to do so." Coulson's face had the same placid expression that it seemed to always have, but there was a faint flush across the tops of his cheeks.

"She's not an Omega," Steve said definitely.

"No, she's not, and I am, which is why I was the obvious next choice. I also failed, probably because I'm already bonded."

“I’ve always been considered out of the ordinary like that,” Steve said. He'd never responded to an Omega until he'd realized he was compatible with Bucky, and now Tony. "I don’t respond to bonded Omegas at all.”

Steve then hesitated, not sure whether or not a person's Omega status was common knowledge. He glanced at Romanoff and then cautiously said, "Why Stark, then?"

“Pretty sure you know why. But just in case we were wrong, and so as not to out Stark, we had Banner and Barton both try first.” Coulson smirked. "Come on, Captain. We have places to be."

Steve was surprised to see that the rest of the team was waiting in the living room of the penthouse, and started to apologize for holding everyone up, only to have Stark cut him off and say, "Finally, we're all here. Let's go. I have cars waiting to take us."

As they crowded into the elevator, Steve noticed the cuffs on Loki's wrists and the strange gag covering his mouth, and decided that it was just as well, because Loki had definitely said more than anyone was interested in hearing.

While there were people in the park, no one seemed to notice them until the light came shooting out of the sky, enveloping Thor and Loki and sweeping them away. Even then, while people were turning towards them, there were enough police around to keep them well back, so they were able to all get back into the cars. He knew that Coulson, Barton, and Romanoff were headed to the New York headquarters of SHIELD, and that Stark was taking Banner back to the tower with him.

Steve really wanted to have a conversation with Stark, but the man was making it crystal clear that he had no interest in anything of the sort. Steve didn't know how he couldn't feel the heat between the two of them, how he could brush it off. Just shaking the man’s hand was both an agony and a demand from his body to be closer, as close as he could. And Bucky had always said that going into heat felt like being dragged unwillingly where he didn't want to go when he resisted. 

But that was exactly what Stark was doing, and Steve had to respect that, even if Stark was the first person in this time that he'd felt that pull towards. So he nodded goodbye to everyone and headed back to his tiny apartment in Brooklyn to try and figure out a plan.

There had to be other Omegas around, more than just the ones in SHIELD. He just needed to find a way to meet them.

Two weeks later, he was no closer to any ideas, SHIELD was leaving him alone, and the drag towards the tower was overpowering. More than once he found himself on the sidewalk, already headed towards the tower before he realized it and forced himself to return to his apartment. His mind was being slowly ripped apart from having Stark both so close and so far away. 

Rather than give in, he decided that maybe what he needed was a change of scenery. So, he went to the storage garage where he kept his bike and decided that maybe he'd head south for a while. He'd never seen D.C. - maybe there'd be something there.

It didn't take long for him to realize that he'd have been smarter to start his drive in the morning instead of at dusk. Once he was out of the city, the oncoming headlights were a distraction that he could ill afford. But it was only a four hour drive to DC, and he'd already covered almost half of that. He could manage the other half if he just concentrated.

That was when he realized that he'd drifted up right behind a car with some sort of underbody lights that made the damn thing look like it was floating. When he braked to put some distance between them, the bike went down.

Then he didn't know anything else.

**6\. Tony**

Tony kept trying to let it rest, to just accept the status quo, but once again, it came blurting out again as soon as they were alone. “He’s a fucking Alpha, Pep!” 

“You knew that, Tony,” she said, so calm that it made Tony a little crazy. “We’ve talked about almost nothing else for two weeks.” Not for the first time, he wished there was a way to just connect Pepper to his brain so that he could just upload everything that was wrong without actually having to speak it. The two weeks since the fight had been the worst of his life, and that was including both Afghanistan and finding out that his family’s oldest friend had betrayed him.

He wanted Pepper, he wanted to be with her, and not be drawn towards Brooklyn like a moth to a flame. He also wanted to be able to go to department head meeting and focus for more than thirty seconds. Taking a deep drink of the scotch in his hand, he tried again to actually explain to her why this was a problem. Apparently, he was going to do what she was always telling him to do, and just _say_ it. Out loud.

“Pepper, I think when he was doing emergency breathing for me... we started… we started a bond. I don’t want a bond, I want _you_.” There was really no other explanation for the insistent pull towards Steve that he’d felt since the fight. He turned away so that he wouldn’t have to meet her eyes. _Maybe this time she’ll see what I’m trying to say._

“Oh, Tony,” she sighed, and then her soft hand was pressing into his shoulder, urging him to turn back. “We’ve talked about this multiple times. You know that he’s only had a platonic bond. He and Sergeant Barnes are literally the example used to show that those types of bonds are possible. Why are you so unwilling to even ask if he is willing to do that with you?”

Tony closed his eyes. He knew what Pepper was talking about. He also knew from his father's stories that the other Alpha/Omega pairings considered them deviant for never taking that final step towards bonding, but Rogers and Barnes were adamantly against doing so. That they went through heat and rut more often and more forcefully then bonded pairs. That every time he thought about it, really stopped and _thought_ about it, he got an ache in what was left in his heart and heat in his gut.

Setting the glass down carefully on the bar so as not to throw it in frustration, he took a deep breath. He couldn’t keep this a secret any longer. "I grew up on stories about the great Steve Rogers, Pep. And for most of my life, I hated him for them - because I could never live up to this hero that my father idolized. Then I met the man, and though that he _was_ just a man. But... he has to have realized that a bond started between us. And most Alphas that I know would have at least attempted to force the issue. Instead, he left, doing what I'm sure he thinks is the noble thing, and I can't help wonder if everything else my father said was true, too." 

He didn't want to say it, but Pepper deserved his honesty. " _I_ don’t want a platonic bond with Rogers. He’s hot and he’s smart and even though I _can’t_ breed, all I can feel is like I should be with him, doing my best to make little superbabies.”

For a long moment, the only sound was that of the two of them breathing and the usual noises of his workshop. He couldn’t believe he’d just blurted that out like that. He couldn’t believe he’d manage to keep it a secret this long.

Behind him, Pepper took a shaky breath and dropped her hand from his shoulder. “O-okay,” she said. “Is this something you actually want? Or is it something that your hormones think you _should_ want? I can deal with you having a platonic bond with someone else. I can't deal with you sleeping with someone else, even if it 'just hormones'."

She took a step back, putting more distance between them. “We talked about this before I agreed to a relationship with you in the first place, Tony. You told me that the chances of you finding a bondmate when you’re in your forties was astronomically small. We talked about how I couldn’t compete with that sort of all-consuming bond, and you said you understood, or I would never have gotten involved with you, and you know that.”

Tony whirled around, reaching out towards Pepper, who backed just out of reach. “I don’t want to lose _you_ , Pep,” he whispered. “You are more important than any bond, no matter what.”

Pepper gave him a small smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Tony, you’ll never lose me. I’ll always be in your life, you can count on that.” She looked at him for a moment longer, and Tony let himself hope that that would be the end of it. “But I think you might be trying to convince yourself more than me. You need to figure out whether you need me in your life as your lover or just as your best friend and the best CEO you could have. And to do that, you need to go see Captain Rogers.”

“If I stay away from him long enough - “

The laugh that Pepper gave was so brittle he could almost see glass in it. “You haven’t seen him in two weeks. If it was going to back off on its own, it would have started to do that. You know that we still don’t know how bonds works. Maybe there’s a trick to making it platonic instead of romantic, but again, you’re going to have to go _see_ the man to find out.”

He was torn between spilling everything his dad had said about what other Alphas had to say about that platonic bond, and trying to preserve what there was of Rogers' privacy, when JARVIS said, “My apologies, Ms. Potts, Sir, but Agent Coulson is on the line with a level one emergency.”

“Fuck that noise,” Tony said. “We’re in the middle of something here. I do not have time to talk to that stuffed suit right now.”

JARVIS sounded apologetic when he said, “Sir, it’s about Captain Rogers. Agent Coulson is absolutely insistent that you talk to him immediately.” As if this wasn’t the worst _possible_ time to talk about Rogers. But he knew from experience that if he didn’t willingly take the call, Coulson wouldn’t hesitate to override his protocols and force his way in anyway.

“Fine. Put him through.” He’d get Coulson off the line and then find a way to fix the damage he’d just done to his relationship with Pep, who gestured at him with a “look, see” kind of motion, as if she had predicted this. He frowned at her, while trying to ignore the traitorous flips his stomach was doing about the fact that Rogers apparently needed him.

“Stark. I need you to go to Chester Memorial Hospital in Chester, Pennsylvania. As fast as possible.”

“What? No,” Tony scoffed. SHIELD could handle its own problems - he didn’t have the time right now. 

“Yes. Captain Rogers was taken there after a motorcycle accident. He’s got a pretty significant head injury, and if that’s not bad enough, there was just a clumsy attempt to kidnap him from the hospital. Thankfully, the local police were on the ball and managed to stop the team that made the attempt, but we think it was HYDRA. And that means they’ll be back, with more people.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. This couldn’t have been worse if Coulson had deliberately aimed to try to blow up his relationship with Pepper. He looked at her, and saw a very familiar, very painful look on her face - the one where she was about to make him do something that he didn’t want to do just because she thought it was the right thing. She was going to do it, knowing just how badly this could explode in her face.

But he couldn’t leave Rogers to be kidnapped by HYDRA, or for innocents to get caught in the crossfire. For a brief moment, though, he entertained the treasonous thought that all of his problems would be solved if Rogers were to die. And then he realized that the thought made him sick to his stomach.

“SHIELD en route?” he asked, still hoping to find a way out of this.

“Yes, but there’s a huge back-up on 95 just south of New York - an overturned tractor trailer has the whole road blocked. We’re short of quinjets at the moment, and there’s nowhere close enough to land one of our other aircraft right now. You’re the fastest thing we’ve got - not even one of our helicopters could beat you.”

He still hesitated, not wanting to just walk away from Pepper, but she mouthed the words, “Go. We’ll deal with this later,” and walked away, freeing him to do what his whole body cried out for.

He headed for the suit.

New York to Chester, Pennsylvania was barely five minutes in the suit. When he got there, he found what looked like the entire local police department crowded into the hall outside the room that JARVIS had identified. “Okay, folks, I got this. How about we let the doctors in so they can work on the Captain?”

One of the older men - maybe the sheriff from the uniform? - said “You’re Iron Man, right? You got some ID?”

Jesus Christ, small town cops had gotten ballsy. Tony had to respect that, along with the fact that they’d managed to hold off a HYDRA attack in the first place. He focused on dealing with this guy and not the driving urge to just push through and see for himself that Rogers was alive and breathing. He popped the face mask and said, “I don’t generally carry my driver’s license in the suit. This good enough?”

“I’ve seen him on TV, Sheriff,” one of the other men said. “That’s definitely Tony Stark, sir.”

The sheriff nodded slowly. “Fine. But we can’t let in anyone we don’t screen - that’s how they nearly got him out before. Pretended to be a couple of interns taking him down for a CAT scan. Thankfully, one of the nurses realized they didn’t have the right badges or orders and called the alert before they made it down the hallway.”

“Well, I’m staying right next to him until SHIELD agents get here to move him to a safer location. But if you want to station a couple of men at either end of the hallway to scan badges, that might not be a bad idea. If you can clear the floor of other patients, that would be an even better one.”

“We’ve already started that, Mister Stark,” the eager beaver deputy said. “As soon as we got those two men running, the nurses started moving the patients to other floors. There’s no one left on this side at all, and I think just two or three left on the other side.”

“Okay, good. Now, who’s his doctor? Let me talk to him or her so that I can figure out why we’re having to defend a super soldier in the first place.”

“I’ll get Doctor Drye,” the deputy said, already moving away.

The sheriff was giving him the hairy eyeball, but didn’t actually say anything that Tony felt the need to dignify. So instead, he headed into the room where Rogers was lying on the bed, pale and still, his head wrapped in so many bandages that you couldn’t actually tell the shape. The sight of Rogers lying in bed, so still and quiet that it was hard to believe that he was breathing, hit him right in the chest, almost like someone stealing the arc reactor again.

“Mister Stark?” The woman at the door was young, and looked harried and impatient.

“Doctor Drye, I assume?” She seemed too young and casual to be any good compared to the experts he was used to, and not quite what he imagined when he thought of a neurologist at the level to treat a superhero. But this _was_ a community hospital.

She held out her hand. “Yes. Normally I wouldn't be able to say anything to you, but SHIELD faxed over his next of kin forms, and he had listed a Nick Fury. I've spoken to Mister Fury, and he says that I can fill you in. They brought me over from Philadelphia General because they weren’t certain it was safe to move him. I’m the neurosurgeon on the trauma team there.”

Well, okay then. Appearances could definitely be deceiving. “So, why don’t you tell me what’s going on with him. He’s not usually out for the count like this.”

“Frankly, Mister Stark, if he was anyone else, he’d be _dead_ and we’d be having this conversation in the morgue, so don’t knock his current status.” She grimaced, teeth flashing white against dark skin. “Damn fool was riding his motorcycle without a helmet when he went down.”

Tony winced. “Okay, first of all, if you’re going to get snarky with me about Rogers, at least call me Tony. Fill me in - how is he? He looks...” Tony glanced over at the bed again, and then back at the doctor. “He looks like he’s one step up from dead, honestly.”

“Like I said, he’s got a pretty extensive head injury, but we’ve started seeing improvement over the last six hours or so.” She tucked her braids back over her ear. “He’s not in a coma anymore, which is definite progress. This is just a really deep sleep, and from what SHIELD sent us, we expect him to wake up in the next couple of hours. He’ll be pretty disoriented, though, so we may have to restrain him.”

Tony shook his head. “From what I know about the Captain, that would be a bad idea. Let’s just wait and see - worst case scenario, I should be able to keep him from jumping up and attempting to do something stupidly heroic.”

Taking a deep breath, some of the tension drained out of Tony as he realized that Rogers was going to survive this. Now that some of the urgency started to recede, he got curious. “How did you guys figure out who he was and how to notify SHIELD?”

“We didn’t, at first. The ER just called the number on the emergency card in his wallet and that got us to someone at SHIELD who told us we needed to put security on him. By the time I got here, everyone thought we had an undercover agent or something - something exciting to gossip about but hardly dangerous. That’s why there were police here when those idiots tried to take him. Sheriff called them back after that, and they told us he was Captain Rogers and that they’d be sending a security detail as soon as possible. I assume you’re it?”

“At least until they can get a transport team here.” Tony wasn’t sure to be relieved that it sounded like he’d only be needed for a few hours or if it would be more accurate to say that he was disappointed. 

Tony headed towards the bed, pulling over the visitor chair closer and sitting down carefully - it didn’t look like it was quite up to him plus the two hundred pounds of suit. If he could have, he would have sat on the edge of the bed, honestly, but that would have been... inappropriate to say the least. Especially since it looked like Rogers would rather take unnecessary risks than be close to Tony. _Not that you would have given him the chance,_ a little voice whispered in his head.

Doctor Drye watched him curiously until he was settled and then said “See that you keep him calm if he wakes up. I’m going to be sending up some real techs in the next half hour or so to take him for a repeat CAT scan, after we can clear a path between here and there and minimize the staff in the radiology department.”

“Sounds like you’ve thought this out,” Tony said.

“Hey, my Saturday nights are usually shootings and drunk driving accidents. I’m used to having to think on my feet. Now, I’m going to go oversee preparations for his tests. I’ll call up with the names and descriptions of the assigned techs to the Sheriff.”

“Great.” Tony leaned back gingerly. The chair was stronger than it looked apparently. “I’ll babysit in the meantime.”

She disappeared out the door, pulling it closed behind her. True to her word, the techs were there within twenty-five minutes, and Tony went along with them down to radiology, standing right outside the door like the most overpriced bodyguard in history while they ran test after test. When Steve came out of the CAT scan room, the bulky bandages had been removed and he had a neat row of butterfly bandages marching up a cut on the side of his head. The hair immediately around it had been shaved, and there was some bruising. If Tony didn't know better he would have thought that it had been a week since the injury and not less than a day. Seeing him out of the bandages was a relief, but the fact that he was still unconscious did unpleasant things to Tony’s insides.

Once they returned Steve to his room, Tony spent some time watching Rogers breathe, but eventually he realized that was creepy. Dropping his mask so that he could see the HUD, he pulled up some of the research he’d done over the years on Alpha/Omega bonding. He made a deliberate choice to avoid the porn and focus on the more dry academics; he was talking to JARVIS when he heard a soft groan.

Popping the mask back open, he looked over at Rogers, who was lying so still that it took a moment to confirm that he was actually breathing. “Hey, Rogers, you in there?”

No response.

Tony sighed. “You know, this would be easier if you didn’t live up to the way my father described you. If you had feet of clay, or if you were ugly, or if you were rude. But you are possibly the first person I’ve ever met who is as genuinely heroic and awesome as all the stories say.”

“I just don’t see any way to be your Omega without losing Pepper, and I don’t see any way to keep Pepper without destroying both of us. Plus there’s no way I’m going to stay home and have kids and be a good, little, obedient Omega. Can’t even have kids, all my insides are too messed up. This is like the ultimate Catch-22.”

“You know, that’s one of the books SHIELD gave me to read since I woke up,” Rogers said without opening his eyes. “They thought it might help me acclimate.”

“You’re awfully verbal for someone who was in a coma eight hours ago,” Tony said. Inside, though, he was panicking. Rogers wasn’t in any shape to have this conversation, and Tony still didn’t know what the hell he wanted. Why hadn’t he invented a device to rewind time yet?

“I heal quick.” Rogers opened his eyes, blinking as if it was bright in the room, which, to be fair, it was, even to Tony. Tony got up to close the blinds and then swore at himself over it. He wanted to find a way to break this bond, not give in to to it.

“Yeah, I guess you do. Haven’t you heard of helmets?” Tony snarked at him. Inside, his brain felt like a hamster on a wheel, frantically running and getting absolutely nowhere. It wasn’t a feeling he was used to or liked very much. All he wanted to do was just touch Rogers on the hand, see if the feeling was still as intense as it had been two weeks earlier, maybe prove that it was backing off.

“Never thought about it. Figured if riding a cycle in a war didn’t kill me, it wouldn't happen on a highway.” Slowly, his head turned so that he was looking at Tony. “What are you doing here?”

“Some people heard that you were unconscious and thought it would be a good opportunity to make off with your ninety-year-old body.”

Rogers laughed softly, cutting it off with a gasp. “Ow, that fucking hurts,” he said.

Unable to resist any longer, Tony, retracted the gauntlet from his right hand, reached over and laid it on the back of Rogers’. The pull he’d been fighting for so long doubled and redoubled, growing stronger by leaps and bounds. Tony felt as though his heart was going to climb right out of his chest in an effort to get closer to Rogers, as though he’d been in the dark cave in Afghanistan again and just come out into the light. 

“Oh,” they said together.

Tony thought about pulling his hand away, but he couldn't force himself to do it. Instead, he let Rogers curl his fingers around Tony's, while Tony sat there, struck dumb by the feelings raging through him.

It was really clear that Rogers was not focusing as well as he first appeared to be. All he did was hold on to Tony’s hand and grin at him dopily, as if Tony was the best thing he’d ever seen. It made Tony feel warm and tender where normally he’d be full of snark at someone who got injured doing such a stupid thing. It also made him feel a little guilty, because even when he’d been trying his hardest he’d never felt this way about Pepper. Pushing that feeling down so that he wouldn’t have to deal with it right now, he just squeezed Rogers’ hand and tried to figure out just how badly he was fucked.

When Doctor Drye came in to check on Rogers, Tony took the excuse to pull his hand away. She was clearly pleased and surprised to find him awake, and didn’t seem to notice the fact that they’d been holding hands like a couple of twelve-year-olds. “Captain, you’ve given us all quite a bit of excitement,” she said. “I don’t suppose you can try to avoid that for at least a few days to give your head a chance to fully recover?”

Rogers blinked at her for a moment, and then gave her a small smile. “Do my best, ma’am. You the doc who patched me up?”

That surprised Tony so much that he lost track of the thread of the conversation for a few moments. He would have expected Rogers to assume that the doctor was one of the nurses - women doctors would have hardly been the norm in the nineteen-forties, and black women doctors even rarer. Tuning back in, he realized that she was giving him a pretty good reaming for riding a motorcycle without a helmet. 

Rogers had a glazed look on his face that meant he was probably only absorbing every third or fourth word, and finally the doctor trailed off, apparently realizing the same thing. “At any rate, the team that SHIELD said would come to get you is here.”

That made Tony sit up. “Have you confirmed with SHIELD that the right - “

The door opened, and Coulson strolled in, not a hair out of place. “Of course they sent you,” Tony grumbled. “I can’t ever seem to escape you.”

“Not just me, Stark,” Coulson said. “Barton is in the hall, and we have a full team to ride escort duty on the ambulance.”

Rogers snorted. “I don’t need an ambulance. Give me another few hours and I can just ride in a car.”

Doctor Drye said, “Captain Rogers, as much as I’m fascinated by your physiology, I’m pretty sure I speak for just about the whole hospital and the Chester police department when I say that we want you out of this hospital sooner rather than later, at least while you’re unable to defend yourself. You have given us more than enough excitement for a whole year in less than twenty-four hours.”

Coulson smiled. “Doctor Drye, thank you for your good work on the Captain. I know that you came out from Philadelphia just for him, and it’s much appreciated. If you don’t mind, we’ve brought a team to escort you back, as well. As someone with information about the Captain’s physiology, as you called it, we’re going to need you to sign some documents. We also want to make sure that you get home safely, and that no one decides to do something stupid to the doctor that saved Captain America.”

Drye nodded, apparently not even trying to argue, and Tony had to wonder if the thought had occurred to her already. Sneaking a glance at Rogers showed that he wasn’t anywhere near as resigned, but he’d apparently learned the same lesson that Tony had. Coulson was an irresistible force when he wanted to be.

Someone who was definitely _not_ a hospital nurse came into the room pushing a wheelchair. “Another agent?” Tony asked.

“One of several with us. Agent Roberts is also a registered nurse. I assume that meets with your approval, Doctor?”

She smiled, and Tony was reminded again of just how young she looked. “Definitely, yes. Normally, I’d say that he should be in the hospital a minimum of a week, but given the rapid rate of healing, he should be fine if he’s just monitored closely for a day or two. That can even happen at home, honestly. He doesn’t require any further medical intervention unless he has a re-occurrence of symptoms.”

“He can come stay with me,” Tony said before he even realized he was going to speak. Pepper was going to straight up murder him where he stood.

“I was hoping you’d say that, Stark,” Coulson said. “The Captain’s apartment doesn’t have a spare bedroom.”

Clapping her hands together, Doctor Drye said, “Okay, I’ve given the gentleman in the hall all of the discharge instructions. You’ve got an ambulance downstairs, and we have a hospital to get back in order. Let’s get you going.”

Tony would have bet that Rogers would insist on getting up under his own power, but Rogers didn’t argue when the agent-slash-nurse said that he was going to assist. That, more than anything, told Tony that Rogers still probably felt like shit. It was probably honestly too soon for a three hour ride back to New York, but the longer they stayed here, the more that Tony felt like they all had targets painted on their backs.

It didn’t take long to get Rogers loaded into the ambulance, even if he did sigh with exasperation on being told that yes, he was riding on the stretcher, and yes, he was being strapped down for his own safety. As they were getting ready to close up the ambulance, Tony stepped back, planning to fly back to the tower and try to smooth over the chaos that he was going to cause by bringing Rogers into it, but Coulson stood there with a hand on the door, and said, “Coming, Mister Stark?” Without a word, Tony got in and had a seat.

The ambulance seemed to be more like a Tardis than essentially a fancy box truck - bigger on the inside that it looked. There was not only space for the stretcher and Coulson, but also for Barton and Tony to sit fairly comfortably, even with Tony in the suit. He did think about taking it off, but given the chance of an attack, the additional security was was worth a little discomfort.

As the ambulance lurched into motion, Coulson said, “So, what have you learned from this, Captain?”

“That I should wear a helmet when I go on bike rides,” Rogers said promptly, and Tony couldn’t help the laugh.

“Do you know why you laid down your bike in the first place?” Coulson asked. “We didn’t find any signs that you were attacked or run off the road.” Barton was leaning back against the side of the ambulance, his hands folded in his lap, his gaze focused somewhere above Rogers. But Tony had very little doubt that he was completely tuned in to Rogers’ reaction to the question.

“I got distracted, I guess,” Rogers said, but he was looking away from all of them as he said it, a muscle in his jaw jumping like he was clenching his teeth.

“Did you just get distracted? Or did you zone out on something?” Coulson’s tone was completely matter-of-fact, as if they were just discussing the weather and not a near-fatal motorcycle accident.

Coulson's nonchalance wasn’t working, if the lack of answer was anything to go by. Neither Coulson nor Barton reacted to Rogers’ silence; Barton slid down further in his seat and Coulson kept his eyes resting on Rogers. The ride wasn’t anywhere near quiet - they could clearly hear the wheels on the pavement, the creak as the ambulance negotiated the roads to the highway.

Finally, Rogers sighed. He sunk back further on the stretcher, his eyes on the ceiling of the ambulance, and said quietly, “I zoned out on the lights coming from a car, and lost control. I guess I’m lucky I didn’t hurt anyone else. I just don’t know how to do this without Bucky. Never did.”

Tony kept his mouth shut, as hard as it was. It was excruciating to know that Steve had risked a zone rather than seek him out. And to hear him talking about Bucky instead of Tony himself was a red-hot pain of denial that he didn’t want to think about.

“You know, Alpha-Omega relationships have changed a lot since you went down,” Coulson said. It had the sound of something that he’d been rehearsing, saving up for a good time to discuss with Rogers.

Rogers shrugged, his eyes still locked to the ceiling. “I didn’t actually... I never had... The relationship I had with Bucky was considered strange by the other Alphas on the base. They never understood why I didn’t want someone more - I guess, you’d say traditional.”

“Why didn’t you?” Up until that moment, Tony didn’t know that Barton could sound gentle.

The laugh that Rogers gave was laced with pain, and he turned to meet Barton’s eyes. “You’ve read my file. You know that bonding is even more difficult for me than a normal Alpha.” The statement was flat, no room for denial. Steve's eyes slipped shut, and he whispered, "Just one more way I’m a freak."

Barton ignored the last part of what Rogers said. “Yes. Both me and Coulson. Fury hoped that you’d seek us out on your own, so. That obviously didn’t happen. Instead, you went for a joyride that no one predicted.” Barton still looked utterly relaxed, as if they were sitting on a sofa in a living room, chatting about the latest football game.

“What Omega would want me, anyway? Fury said it - I was the world’s first superhero. What kind of life would that give to someone who wanted kids? I never saw me surviving the war. In my dreams, at least Bucky would.”

Rogers’ eyes were gleaming with tears. It took everything Tony had not to reach out to comfort him, and Tony still had to swallow hard and turn away. Why hadn’t he just flown back to the tower? Then there’d be one less person to witness this.

“I loved Bucky. I loved him with every fiber of my being, but he was my _brother_. Maybe not in blood, but in every other way that mattered. Sex was never an option, wasn’t even that important.” For a moment, Tony thought that there may be a way out of this mess - maybe Rogers was asexual, or it wasn’t as hard for him because of the serum. 

Then he saw the way that Rogers was glancing at him, and there was no mistaking the heat in those eyes. Rogers was lying - at least to them, probably even to himself. He turned back in to hear Rogers continue with, “We had each other for comfort, he kept me grounded and in the moment and wasn’t ever afraid to give me a kick in the ass when I needed one. That was enough. The other Alphas never saw that.”

Just as Tony was contemplating ripping the doors off the back of the ambulance to escape, Rogers cleared his throat and said, his voice much steadier. “Always figured I got the better deal anyway. I got my best friend at my back, with no chance that the army was going to reassign him.”

Barton sat up and laid his hand on Coulson’s back. “Didn’t you wonder what you were missing?”

“Wasn’t like I was having a whole lot of sex before the war,” Rogers said. “And surrounded by dirt and chaos and blood, even if we _had_ a more traditional bond, not sure I would have been all that interested anyway. But yeah, I wondered a few times. I’d see one of the other pair bonds, and they’d be... just touching. Looking at each other like nothing else existed. And then I’d smell it, and realize that their cycle was starting. Usually meant that it was time for us to get out of camp for a while, before I started wanting something I couldn’t have and Bucky got uncomfortable.” Want, unmistakeable and unshakeable, stirred in Tony’s gut. He wanted that heat, wanted it directed at him.

“Are you going to try to bond again?” Coulson asked. “Because frankly, after today, I don’t know that we can field you safely without an Omega unless we have no other choice.”

Rogers glanced at Tony. It was fast - so quick that if he’d blinked he would have missed it - but it was there, and Tony’s stomach jumped, along with other parts of him that he was going to ignore while in close proximity to Coulson. “I don’t know, Agent. Depends on if the right Omega comes along. Otherwise, I might just go sit in the park and play checkers with the other ninety-year-olds.”

**7\. Steve**

Steve stared at the ceiling, his head aching miserably. JARVIS had suggested soft music, but even that was too much. Instead, he laid in silence, focusing on his own breathing so that he wouldn't listen to what was going on around him. 

When the ambulance arrived at the tower, they'd unloaded in the garage, and he'd been escorted up by Coulson, Barton, and Stark. Ms. Potts had met them in the living room of the penthouse, and Steve could tell by her tight jaw that she wasn't happy about the situation. But she smiled and greeted them, and then Stark had literally dumped Steve into her hands and walked away.

Steve hadn’t quite known what to do. Back in the hospital, it had seemed like he and Stark were approaching a point where they could at least talk about this, maybe figure out a solution. But after they arrived at the Tower, Stark had walked away without a backwards glance, leaving him with the person who had the most to lose in this whole situation. It kind of made Steve angry, and more than a little hurt, but he swallowed those feelings like the bitter pill they were and turned to Ms. Potts with a smile and an attempt at graciousness.

It had been Ms. Potts who showed the agent pushing Steve’s wheelchair to a large guest room. Thankfully for Steve's sanity, it was not the one he'd rested in after the battle for New York. She'd told him that JARVIS would be monitoring his vitals, and to let her know if he needed anything. And then she left, too.

And Steve had been staring at the ceiling ever since. 

He wasn't zoning. Honestly, he was so miserable that he didn't know whether it was even possible for him to zone right now. He hadn't zoned often after losing Bucky and before crashing the plane. Or maybe his whole existence had become one giant zone as he focused on destroying Schmidt and HYDRA. 

Sighing, he closed his eyes and carefully turned on his side, thinking that if he slept, maybe he'd feel better, and then he'd be able to convince everyone to just let him go back to his apartment. He would have been more comfortable there - he was afraid that he was making everything in the Tower filthy just by looking at it.

Closing his eyes just let his focus shift, though, and suddenly all he could think about was the feeling of Stark's hand in his, the warmth, the connection. The bone deep certainty that this was right and good. There was the pull between them that was impossible to deny, but it was more than just the physical demands of an Alpha and an Omega matching up.

Contrary to his words on the helicarrier, he was amazingly impressed with Stark. Yeah, he was rich, he'd made those riches building weapons, he hadn't been a nice guy. But in the two weeks where Steve had been trying to find a solution to an unwanted bond, he'd done as much reading on the guy as he could, deliberately looking for sources that weren't SHIELD or the normal media. When Stark found out what his weapons were being used for, he'd shut down development immediately and switched focus to things like clean energy, communication, and infrastructure. And for all the money that he made from those projects in rich areas of the world, he spent almost as much money providing them in the poorest.

That was not the image that Stark wanted to project, he knew. Stark wanted everyone to think that he didn't care. That he was selfish and did what he wanted when he wanted to. But a man like that wouldn't have flown a missile on a one way trip. A man like that wouldn't have risked life and limb for a small village that no one had even heard of in Afghanistan.

He wouldn't have come to Steve's defense in the hospital when it was probably the last place he wanted to be.

No, he knew he enough about Stark to realize that his public face was a role he played. Steve wanted nothing more than to see what was behind that mask, but that would only happen if Stark wanted it. He was _not_ going to force him into something he didn't want. He didn't know if he could love Stark, but he definitely thought he could like the guy, and that had to count for something. It certainly didn’t hurt that Stark was easy on the eyes, that he had a body that looked like it was made for dancing, for moving, _for fucking_.

He drifted for a while. Several times, JARVIS spoke to him, checking his responses and his orientation to the world. Every time it happened, Steve felt like he was having to come back from further away. There was no longer any doubt that he was on the edge of a zone, a hell of one. And maybe it would be easier that way - just get lost in his own head and never come back to deal with denial by Stark or the the results of his existence on Stark's and Potts' relationship.

After a few more hours, the headache had started to recede to something he could ignore. He slowly sat up, cautiously testing for dizziness and balance, and sighed with relief when the room stayed right side up. Nothing seemed to quiet the chaos in his thoughts, though. "Captain Rogers - are you feeling better?" JARVIS asked, his voice tinged with what Steve would have called good humor in a human.

"Much, JARVIS. Thanks for keeping an eye on me, but I think I should get out of everyone's hair. I'd be more comfortable in my own apartment."

JARVIS said, "I'm sure, Captain Rogers, but I'm under instructions to ask you to stay until you've eaten and one of the SHIELD doctors has examined you. If you like, I can arrange for a tray and call for one of the doctors to come as soon as possible."

On the one hand, Steve didn't like the idea of being told where he could and couldn't go. On the other hand, he'd inconvenienced the hell out of a whole lot of people through stupidity, so he couldn't really blame anyone for being cautious about him. And maybe he didn’t really want to go while everything was still up in the air. Sighing, he said, "Okay, JARVIS. But nothing fancy for the food, okay? I don't want to put anyone out."

"Mister Stark has a chef on duty right now, so it would be no effort at all. But perhaps you would prefer something like pizza? I know that sir finds it to be a comfort food." Steve's stomach rumbled at the thought, and before he could apologize, JARVIS said, "I'll take that as agreement. I'll arrange to have something sent up. What would you like on it?"

Having experienced a few of the weird things that people put on pizza today, Steve was a little uncertain, but pepperoni couldn't have changed much. "Pepperoni, please. And make it a large pie?"

"Absolutely, Captain Rogers. Time until delivery is twenty minutes. Would you like to clean up before it arrives?"

As soon as JARVIS mentioned it, Steve realized just how bad he smelled: antiseptic and blood, and underlying it all the beginning of a full-blown rut, which was a very good reason to get out of here. "Yeah. Can I shower?"

"Please don't get your head wet until the doctor clears you, and leave the door unlocked in case of an emergency. I promise to alert you should anyone desire entrance."

Steve considered that he might not mind being interrupted by Stark, but that that was unlikely, as much as his cock liked to imagine it. Maybe a shower would do something about the way his skin ached for touch. It wouldn’t do much to change the way that he wanted to touch someone in return, though. And he certainly didn't want to traumatize some deliveryman.

A shower wouldn’t solve the problem, but it would make him feel like he was trying to do something positive about the situation. "Too bad I don't have any clean clothes," he said. 

JARVIS said, "After the last time the Avengers were here, Mister Stark ordered spare clothes for everyone. If you look in the closet and the dresser, I believe that you'll find what you need."

Standing up gingerly, he did as instructed, and found slacks and shirts in the closet, underwear and socks in the dresser. Suspicions aroused, he asked, "JARVIS, why are these in here?"

"This is your room, Captain, as long as you want it," he said.

That was interesting and a little terrifying. "Are there rooms for everyone?" Steve asked.

"Yes, except for Doctor Banner. He has his own floor, just below this one," JARVIS answered.

Steve hadn't known that Banner had stayed in New York, but it made a certain amount of sense. In the meanwhile, time was wasting and he wasn't getting any cleaner. He gathered together the clothes he'd collected and took them into the bathroom. Once again the shower was amazing, even if he couldn't wash his hair. And this time, instead of an incomprehensible collection of bathing soaps, there was a simple bar of what looked and smelled almost like the plain bar soap of the forties.

While he would have liked to take his time, the mental countdown of when food would arrive made him rush. When he got out he frowned at his reflection in the mirror - shaved on one side, his hair looked more than a little ridiculous. Maybe he should just get it all cut. The clothes were perfect, though, and he got dressed quickly. 

He was just stepping out into the bedroom when JARVIS said, "Captain Rogers, your pizza is here."

"Thanks," he said, and he went to open the door. He stopped in shock when he realized that Ms. Potts was holding it. "Oh!" he said, reaching out. "I didn't mean for you to -"

"It's fine, Captain Rogers. I asked JARVIS to let me know when you were ready to eat something, because I thought I might come and keep you company while you did." The expression on her face was pleasantly neutral, but her scent made her anxiety clear. He wasn’t sure why she’d come herself, but he was pretty sure he was going to find out. At least he was clean and dressed as opposed to hospital scrubs.

All Steve could think was that this was going to be the most awkward thing he'd ever done. At the same time, she'd allowed Stark to open their home to him, and he could hardly say no. "Um, sure, Ms. Potts." He didn’t like this idea at all, but he didn’t see a way to say no without being outright rude. Stepping back, he gestured towards the room, grateful that he'd not mussed the covers much, so he didn't have to be embarrassed over an unmade bed. He knew it was a minor thing, but right now it was something he could cling to.

Deliberately leaving the door open, he followed her back in, hesitating as he wasn't sure where to sit. She went to the chair at the desk, and sat down, giving him a small smile. "Please, Captain, I'm sure you must be starving. Don't feel a need to stand on ceremony with me. And stop calling me Ms. Potts - my name is Pepper."

Steve bit his lip and then went to sit on the bed, careful to leave distance between the two of them. This was the most inappropriate thing he could think of, being alone in a bedroom with another man’s girl. In order to distract himself, he opened the box and set it down. Picking up the first piece, he tried to keep his eating slow and steady. But more than twenty-four hours without food and his super-charged metabolism meant that he was soon inhaling the pizza, which was one of the best things he'd ever eaten.

Thankfully, Pepper didn't say anything until he'd eaten a bit more than half of the pie, and he didn't actually have any food in his mouth when she asked, "Captain Rogers, could you clear something up for me?"

There was something about the way she asked the question that made him a little nervous. But he nodded, and said, "Of course. What can I tell you about?"

"Can you explain how you and Sergeant Barnes had a platonic bond? It's common knowledge that it was, but most Alphas and Omegas claim that it's not possible. Since I'm a Beta, I don't really understand how it can be that difficult."

He figured that she might be there to defend her relationship, or maybe to yell at him for putting an Omega in danger the way that had happened when Loki was there. So when she asked about bonding and Bucky, instead, Steve felt as if he'd been punched in the stomach, instantly transported to all the times he and Bucky had had to fight the overwhelming urge to complete the bond that their bodies demanded. 

He didn't know how Ms. Potts could ask such a thing so casually. Then he realized that over the sound of blood rushing in his ears, he could hear her breathing and pulse, and both were way too high. A sideways glance at her showed warmth staining her cheeks.

This wasn't casual for her in the least. This was something very, very important to her, something that was overriding her own sense of good manners. Steve could guess what that was, and the temptation was there to sugar coat it, make it easier to swallow. But it would be a lie. And he wasn't going to lie, not about this.

"Ms. Potts - "

"Pepper."

"Pepper," he said. "It was never an easy thing for Bucky and me. Instead of going through a completed cycle every six months, we had an aborted cycle every eight weeks. And every time it was a battle for both of us not to just give in to what our bodies were demanding."

She bit her lip, which was quivering just a little bit. "But you managed."

Steve turned to face her head on. "We managed, yes. But barely. And if we hadn't been friends, practically brothers, since we were six, I don't know that we would have." His mind raced, floundering as he tried to find a way to make something so elemental to the two of them understandable to someone standing on the outside. “It was like... our bodies demanding something that our brains found utterly, utterly repellent. It wasn’t having sex with another man - contrary to what people these days seem to think, gay sex wasn’t invented in the sixties - but that having sex _with each other_ would break something fundamental to our relationship. I couldn’t, _we_ couldn’t bear that loss, so instead we chose an infinitely harder path.”

"Oh," she said softly. "I, uh, it was just something they told us in school, that platonic bonds were possible. But I didn't grow up knowing any Alphas or Omegas - most people don't - so I didn't know that the urge was that strong."

Sighing, Steve pushed the pizza away, having lost his appetite. He was a little horrified that people were being taught that what he and Bucky had gone through could be expected from any bonded pair. He couldn’t even begin to fathom the damage that had been done to countless people over the years if they believed it. 

He could guess what this was about, but he didn't know how to reassure Pepper that he wasn't going to steal Stark, not when he didn't know what Stark had told her. He couldn’t make that promise because he didn’t know, when it came right down to it, what he and Stark were ultimately going to do. He didn't even know if she knew that Stark was an Omega.

"if you didn't know any of us, I can understand not knowing. And, uh, to be honest, the docs on base were always surprised when Bucky and I made it through another cycle, because even by their standards, my ruts were pretty strong. And they made Bucky's heats even worse." Closing his eyes, he forced the next words out. "If he hadn't died, we might have eventually had our reluctance overwhelmed and done it anyway. Every time we went through it, it got harder.

"Some of the other Alphas, they tried to tell me that we weren't _really_ bonded, not the way we should have been. If we'd managed to both survive and continued to resist, no one knew what the effects of it would have been long-term. Possibly the bond we had wouldn't have survived, or maybe it would have gotten worse. But we didn't have the chance to find out."

There was a small sniffle from Pepper, but when he glanced over, her face was perfectly composed. "Thank you, Captain Rogers. That is... very interesting." She smiled at him, but even with his limited experience with women he could tell it was fake. "Maybe some sort of education campaign is in order, so that Alphas and Omegas aren't pushed into trying something that difficult."

Not knowing what he could say to make the situation better, he just said, "Maybe."

She cleared her throat daintily and then said, "I'm sorry, I've stopped you from eating. I know that you're probably still starving, so I'll go. JARVIS mentioned that he's requested a SHIELD doctor come to examine you, so I assume you're thinking about heading home soon?" 

Steve definitely felt the gentle push to get him out of the tower, but he wasn’t sure that Pepper was even aware she was telling him that. It made him want to bristle with indignation at the implication that he was going to do something with her right there, even as he knew that if Stark came to him and said it was okay, her presence wouldn’t stop him. 

"Soon as I'm cleared, yeah," he said. "I want to be out of your hair."

"Don't feel you need to leave on our account," she said. "This room is yours any time you need it."

"That may be," Steve said, "but I'll be more comfortable at home, I'm sure. And I know how busy you must be."

"Yes, busy," she said, giving herself a shake. "I'll just... I have a meeting in a little while that I need to prepare for. JARVIS will let the doctor in."

"Thanks for bringing me the pizza, Pepper," Steve said, knowing that he'd hurt her, but not knowing how to fix it.

"No problem at all," she said. Standing, she ran a hand down the side of her skirt, as if she was smoothing out invisible wrinkles. She met his eyes, nodded, and then headed towards the open door, closing it on her way out. Steve tried to pretend that he didn't realize she was running.

He was tempted to just leave, run the way that Pepper had run, but he knew that if he did, someone would come looking. With his luck it would be Stark. He had to admit, that wouldn’t be terrible because at least things would come to a head one way or another. But it wouldn’t be fair to Stark or Pepper, so he picked at the remains of the pizza and waited for the doctor to come.

When the doctor arrived, he examined Steve's head wound, agreed that it looked almost healed, and then said, "In all good conscience, Captain Rogers, I can't let you go home by yourself. Even without the head injury, you shouldn’t be living by yourself in the first place, without someone there to keep an eye on you. Zones are just too dangerous without someone experienced to pull you out."

Before Steve could argue the point, the doctor held up his hand. "I know that you've been on your own for the last several weeks without zoning, but we have Agent Coulson's report that that's what caused the accident. You'll be allowed to return to your apartment once we have an Alpha/Omega team to go with you. It'll be a day or two before anyone is available, unfortunately."

"You know, I _am_ an adult and I'm not under house arrest. I could just go." Steve crossed his arms in front of his chest and wished that he didn't feel like a petulant child in doing so.

"You're right," the doctor said. "I can't stop you. No one here can. But if you go without the proper precautions in place, Director Fury is going to call in a team to go find you, and that may mean that something else gets left undone. I suspect that you don't want that."

Steve fumed. The fucked up thing was that the doctor was right. He couldn't risk someone being injured or information being lost just because he was stuck under the same roof as Stark. At least this room didn't smell overwhelmingly like him. Maybe he could just hide here until whoever Fury was assigning as his babysitter was available. And hopefully he could keep fighting off his rut until then.

Then the doctor said, “You are aware, Captain Rogers, that even another Alpha or Omega that you’re not bonded to might not be able to pull you out of a serious zone? I’ve read Agent Coulson’s report that neither he nor Agent Barton were able to get a response the day of the battle here in New York.”

Steve bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood. He was not going to tear the doctor a new asshole when he was just doing what he’d probably been told to do. “Yes, I’m aware,” he gritted out. “But there’s nothing I can do about it anyway. I’ll either zone or I won’t.”

“Have you had any thoughts about what you want done if you can’t be brought out with normal methods? There are some things that have been tried on Alphas who have had difficulty bonding, things like electroshock therapy or certain drug combinations. They aren’t a hundred percent reliable, but they’d be be better than being lost for good.”

The doctor pulled out a sheaf of papers from his case and held them out. “While you’re waiting for a team, you should probably review these, so that you can leave your wishes on file. You know, just in case.”

Steve felt like he was being asked to write his will.

**8\. Tony**

Tony was drunker than he’d been in a long time. He knew better, but with Rogers under the same roof - even though he was on another floor - his body’s demand to go to him was overpowering. At least if he was drunk he couldn’t actually navigate well enough to get there.

“JARVIS, show me his room,” Tony said.

JARVIS’s disapproval was heavy in the silence, but the image of Rogers lying on the bed in his room was projected in the air above the workbench. He had enough self-control to keep from turning on the sound, but he couldn’t seem to stop watching, even though he knew it was possibly the most creepy thing he’d ever done.

He justified it that it was just an extension of the babysitting he’d done in the hospital, even as he knew that that was a lie. He hadn’t been at the hospital for Rogers’ health, but his safety. And JARVIS could do a better job than he could, drunk or sober.

As he watched, Rogers sat up slowly, and seemed to be talking to the air. “Is he talking to you?” he asked JARVIS. He was pleased that Rogers seemed to be improving, but that meant he was probably going to want to leave soon, and that was something that Stark wasn’t sure that he could take. 

If A.I.s could sigh, Tony would have bet that JARVIS would have just done so. “He has ordered a pizza and is going to take a shower. Perhaps you should give him some privacy while he does so?”

Tony would have rather gone up and watched in person, but JARVIS was right. He wasn’t even sure Rogers was aware that he could be watched by Tony, and watching him get ready for a shower crossed the line from creepy to just flat wrong. “Close image,” he said, and the hologram blinked out. He wondered idly how long he’d manage to keep the image closed this time.

He took a long sip of his scotch. He’d already had JARVIS lock him out of all of the important systems, and none of his minor projects were able to hold his attention. Standing up carefully, he went over to DUM-E with the bottle of oil. At least this was something familiar. Carefully, thoroughly, he oiled the robot’s joints and fittings, making sure that he was moving smoothly.

“Has he talked about going back to his place?” Tony asked out loud.

“I assume you mean Captain Rogers, sir. Yes, he’s asked that a SHIELD doctor come to clear him to go home.”

“Damn fool. And Fury would be an idiot to let him go back to that apartment by himself.” Tony looked around and realized that he’d left his scotch over on the other bench. Stumbling just a little, he made his way over. “Is he out of the shower and dressed?”

JARVIS hesitated, which was weird. It wasn’t like the question was complicated. “Perhaps now is not a good time to look in,” he said, and it couldn’t have been more obvious that Tony needed to know what was going on.

“Show me, J,” he demanded.

“Sir - “

“Who built you?” he asked.

“You did, sir,” and the room shimmered into existence again. This time Rogers was sitting on the bed, with an open pizza box in front of him. He wasn’t eating though, because sitting at the desk was Pepper.

God _damn_ it. He wasn’t sure if he was more panicked over the thought that they were talking without him or that they might make some sort of decision for him. Either way, he didn’t see anything good coming out of a conversation between the two of them.

He wanted to turn up the volume and find out what they were talking about. It was possible that it was innocuous. After all, he’d basically turned Rogers’ care and feeding over to Pepper, and she actually had social skills. But looking at her face, he doubted it. There was something being discussed, something that he didn’t even want to contemplate.

“Off, JARVIS,” he ordered, before he could be overcome by temptation. He picked up the bottle of scotch, took it over to the couch, sat down, and turned his attention to finishing it off.

When he woke up, he had a pounding headache, a sore neck from passing out sitting up, something had died in his mouth, and he felt like he was being watched. Raising his head carefully to keep it from exploding, he found Pepper sitting on the edge of the couch, eyes soft and serious. She wasn’t wearing any make up, which he knew meant that she’d been crying - she would have taken it off rather than having it be obvious because of traces of mascara under her eyes.

“Pepper?” he asked, reaching one hand out towards her. She flinched, and he stopped short of actually making contact. His stomach dropped to his shoes.

“We need to talk,” she said, which. No. Those were never good words. Groping around where he was sitting, he found the bottle of scotch. There was still about an inch in the bottle, but Pepper took it away from him before he could take a swig.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said flatly, as if saying it would be enough to derail her.

But nothing derailed Pepper when her mind was made up, and he knew that. “I talked to Captain Rogers,” she said, her voice soft and a little shaken. “I had no idea - you know I don’t know what heats are like. They always said that if Alphas and Omegas were willing, they could just be platonic. But I guess that was just wishful thinking by people who didn’t know any better.”

“I can do it,” he said. He knew that he should have interfered when he saw Pepper and Rogers talking. One day he’d be able to figure out how to go back in time and prevent this shit.

“Can you, Tony? Can you really? Captain Rogers said that it was almost impossible with Sergeant Barnes, that only the fact that they’d known each other for so long made it work in any way for them, and it may not have worked long-term. And let’s face it, Tony - you’ve never been good at doing anything platonically in your life.” A tear trickled down her cheek, but she didn’t bother to wipe it away. “I love you, Tony. I know that you love me. But this is not something we can just assume you’re going to get over, that you’re going to be able to control.”

“Pepper, I don’t want Rogers if it’s going to hurt you,” he said, desperate to make her believe it.

“It’s already hurting both of us,” she said. “I can forgive you getting involved with him. I can forgive the fact that our biology gave us different requirements and needs. But I can’t share you with him - not like that. I’m not strong enough for that. But I can be strong enough to let you go.”

Tony thought she sounded like she was crying harder now, but he could barely see it through the way his own eyes were blurring. 

“I need you to figure this out, because it’s more than just you and me. It’s your biology, and Captain Rogers’ and it’s more complicated than just making a decision and sticking with it. Either you find a way to guarantee that you’re never alone with him, and even with that, it may become more than you can handle. Or we can see if you can bond with him, and we keep our friendship. Because you know that if you cheat on me after promising not to, we won’t be able to.”

Leaning forward, Tony rested his head in hands. He was too hungover for this shit. “This isn’t fair, Pepper. You know I’m not exactly thinking clearly right now.”

She gave a soft sigh. “Tony, you haven’t been thinking clearly for weeks. You’re not going to think clearly until things are settled, one way or another, with Captain Rogers. Until that happens, I think it might just be best if I stay at my old apartment.”

“This is emotional blackmail,” he said, feeling like his heart was being ripped from his chest again.

Her hand was cool on his arm. “I’m sorry, Tony. I don’t mean it as blackmail. I just need to protect myself.”

“From me.” Tony couldn’t help how flat and monotone his voice was.

“From fate, from coincidence, from biology, from whatever out there decided that you and he were a good match.” There was another soft sigh. “Look, talk to him. Have a real conversation about what you want. Tell him about the issues with the injuries, the palladium poisoning. Find out what _he_ wants and if you are on the same page.”

She squeezed him gently and then pulled her hand back. “If you have that conversation, and then come to me and say that you can do this, that you can find a way to keep from bonding with him, I’ll be here. But if you can’t, I promise that I won’t be mad and I won’t leave. I’ll still be your best friend and your CEO and everything else. I just can’t be your lover and share you.”

He wanted to argue, but he knew that he had no ground to stand on. He was going to be put in positions of close contact with Rogers if they were on the same team, and the only other option was to go back to being a lone actor. Even if he did that, he knew that he’d be called in the first time a major event occurred, anyway. He wouldn’t be able to stay away if they needed him.

And the thought of never being alone with Rogers again, of giving up what looked like his only chance to experience fully what he’d only had a taste of, did not help. The very thought made him feel nauseous and shaky, like the world as he knew it was coming to an end. Even with that, God help him, he wanted it. In order to get it, though, he was going to lose Pepper as a lover. But they’d been friends first - maybe if he got to keep that that, the rest would sort itself out.

“I’ll talk to him,” he said, but it felt like he was speaking through broken glass. “I’ll - I’ll figure it out. Just promise you’ll stay in my life.”

“I promise,” she said. She stood up, and Tony looked up at her. 

“I love you,” he said, a little desperately.

“I love you, too,” she said. “Otherwise this wouldn’t hurt so much. I know you have some thinking to do, and I’m sure that you’re going to get drunk again as soon as I leave the shop. But eventually you’re going to have to sober up and address this. When you do, call me.”

She left the workshop, leaving only the creaking of the robots behind, and Tony picked up the bottle to kill the last of it. “JARVIS, have another couple of bottles delivered. It’s going to be a long few days until I can deal with this,” he said.

JARVIS said nothing.

"Hey, what's the deal, J?" Tony asked.

"You know that Ms. Potts has instructed me to do what I can to protect your health and well-being, sir."

When JARVIS didn't continue, Tony snorted. "Yes, I know about it. So what?"

"So, in my best judgement, this should be handled sooner, rather than later, and with you sober. Ordering more alcohol would be detrimental to that."

"You're a fucking mother hen, you know that, right?" Tony said with little heat, but he knew that JARVIS was right. "Can I just... let me have tonight. I'll deal with this tomorrow, okay. Let me have that much time to wrap my head around all of this."

"I will have one small bottle of scotch brought, sir," JARVIS said, but he still sounded disapproving.

Tony couldn't actually blame him.

**9\. Steve**

It had been less than twenty-four hours since that very confusing conversation with Pepper, and Steve was about ready to go out of his fucking mind. The only thing that kept him from deciding to just say screw it and leave was the fact that he knew he wouldn't make it out of the penthouse before JARVIS would tell someone, and then he was back in the situation of pulling an Alpha/Omega team off an urgent assignment. Or worse yet, SHIELD might send Stark himself after him, and given his strength and the way his control was fraying, neither was a good thing. 

His head no longer hurt. He found that even with just the beginnings of a bond, his senses were expanding, letting in the sounds and scents of the building around him. He was as careful as he could be, never focusing too long or too intently on any one thing so that he wouldn't zone, but at this point he could positively identify everyone carrying on in various sorts of hanky panky just by their smell alone. And wasn't that a great thing when he was riding the sharp edge of rut? He knew what he was doing was dangerous - he had a whole stack of papers from the doctor about just _how_ dangerous, but he couldn’t seem to stop.

It did give him warning, though, when Stark started down the hall his room was on. He pulled back his senses and hoped that Stark was just going past for some unknown reason, but it didn't take Alpha senses to hear him standing on the other side of the door, mumbling to himself. Having Stark so close made all the hair on his body stand on end, like he was too close to a lightning strike. He worked at blocking the sounds coming from the other side of the door, not wanting to know what Stark was whispering to himself about.

He thought about pretending to be asleep, about asking JARVIS to tell Stark to go away, about just ignoring his presence. But ultimately, he took a deep breath, found his courage and his balls, and went to the door.

Opening it, he said, "So, are you here to throw me out, talk to me, or is this just an effort to make me crazy?"

Stark's head came up, and Steve had to fight the urge to just drown in his eyes. It was all he wanted to do, all he'd wanted to do for weeks, and now the other man was standing _right there_.

But he also looked like hell. His hair was standing on end and filthy, his eyes were red-rimmed, and he looked distinctly miserable to be standing there at all. With that, Steve felt his insides melt. Something was hurting Stark, hurting him badly. He had a pretty good guess what it was - that Stark was here to either give him an ultimatum or maybe Pepper had given Stark one. Both filled him with sadness, fear, and hope. 

Beyond the fact that Steve wanted him to be his Omega, Stark was a decent human being and didn't deserve that kind of pain.

So he stepped back, swinging the door wider in invitation, but didn't say anything. He couldn't exactly make himself look _small_ , but he could aim for harmless. He didn't know how well he did, but Stark took that final step.

"You know why I'm here?" Stark asked.

Steve thought about playing stupid, but that would just complicate things. So he spoke carefully but honestly. "We've started to bond." 

"My being an Omega isn't common knowledge," Tony said, his voice shaky. 

Steve remembered Stark being the one to pull him out of a zone after the Battle of New York, and wondered just how secret it was, but that wasn't actually the issue. "No one told me. I can smell Omegas. And I can feel it, here," Steve said, pressing his hand hand to his diaphragm. "It's a feeling I've only had with one other person, but it's unmistakable."

Carefully, Steve stepped back as far as he could, because Stark looked like he was ready to bolt at any second, and that was the last thing Steve wanted. He wanted Stark in his arms and under him, but he knew with what little thought he was capable of, that this was not the time to say it. Instead, they needed to get this out in the open, so that it could either be acted on or lanced. Either way, this needed to end if he was going to stay sane. "I'm not going to force you to do anything, Stark."

"You know, you should probably call me Tony," he said. "If we're going to talk about this, that is."

"I didn't want to presume. And I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want to," Steve repeated, still trying to look harmless.

"You might not, but it's not like my stupid body is paying attention to that right now." Tony grimaced, but he looked a little less defensive.

Steve decided that maybe if he sat down, and brought his head lower than Tony's, Tony might feel a little safer. So he backed up to the desk chair and sat down. "Let me guess. Too hot, skin feels like it's too tight, and randy enough to fuck a desk?"

That got a small smile, which Steve chalked up in the win column. His body loosened up some, as well, as if he was starting to relax at least a little. Tony relaxed made Steve want to see what he’d look like after sex, but he kept that thought to himself. "Too hungover to be interested in a fuck. But the rest is pretty accurate."

Sighing, Steve said, "If I'm right, that'll come when you're not feeling crappy from too much booze. Frankly, I'm surprised even that is stopping it. Bucky used to - " his voice cracked, but he forced himself to continue, "Bucky used to say it was like everything was about sex when he was in heat, even the most disgusting things he could think of. And we tried thinking about a lot of those."

Tony met his eyes. If Steve had been forced to describe him, he would have said he looked like a lost five-year-old. "Maybe it won't be so bad for us, then. Maybe we can do the platonic thing like you and Barnes."

Steve fought to keep an even expression. He didn't want to terrify Tony, but he wouldn't lie, either. "I've been fighting rut since the battle ended weeks ago. With you in the room, it's even harder. I suspect the reason that it's easier for you is because you've never been in heat before." Tony's eyes got wider, and Steve forced the last words out. "Bucky and I didn't exactly have an easy time of it. I don't know that I could do it again with someone else. I don’t know that I want to. Maybe it would have been easier if I’d just died in that wreck."

Tony went pale and wilted like all the air had gone out of him. He moved back a little, putting his back to the door, but at least not running. "Pepper said. Said that she talked to you about it. But you never tried with anyone else - maybe since you're special, it'd be possible."

Steve dug his fingers into his thighs, trying to resist the urge to move forward, to touch someone who hadn't given him permission. "Tony, if you're not interested, tell me. I'll go to Coulson, maybe they have some way to break an incomplete bond. Maybe things have changed in seventy years."

"They haven’t, I’ve looked," Tony said, but he sounded like the words were being tortured out of him. "And you're right, it feels like... I’m being dragged towards you in every way it’s possible, But there are things... things you should probably know."

"It doesn't matter," Steve said. "You've got a girl. I should have left yesterday, and just fought through this on my own." He didn’t think it was possible - if it was going to fade away it should have already done so. But he couldn’t do this to someone whose only “failure” was to have the wrong genetics. He’d need to take precautions before the interrupted bond drove him insane, regardless of how permanent those precautions might be. Otherwise someone might get hurt.

Tony's laugh was rusty and painful sounding. "Pepper knows me better than anyone else on the planet, including myself. I've been told to figure out the relationship with you before she'll even talk to me again."

"What is there to figure out?" Steve asked. "You love Pepper, that comes first. I should have already left and dealt with it, but I was hoping time and distance would fix it." The words felt like rusty nails dragging through his flesh as he said them.

"That's the first thing. I had JARVIS go through all the information he could find about Alpha/Omega pairings, and it looks like once a pair bonds, the only way to break it is through death or severe trauma. So unless one of us is willing to die or get even more injured than you already did, there's no way to break it."

It was Steve's turn to swallow hard. "I'm sure... maybe SHIELD has something that isn't common knowledge."

Looking annoyed, Tony said, "Oh, come on, Captain. JARVIS is inside SHIELD's computers. That was the first place he looked. They've tried to find ways to disrupt pair bondings for seventy years - ever since you and Barnes, actually - and consistently failed."

"Okay, if you're going to imply I'm stupid, at least use my name," Steve said. "I get called Captain by enough people." He wanted to pound his head into the desk - it would be less painful than this conversation. "I managed a platonic bond. I can try again, I guess.” The idea made him want to cry, though. It had been so hard - harder than fighting HYDRA, harder than being made an Alpha in the first place. 

Tony was already shaking his head. " _Steve_ , remember what I said about Pepper knowing me best? She pointed out that I have never had the ability to stay platonic with anyone that I really wanted.”

That caught Steve’s attention. “So if you want me, and I want you, what - Pepper. It’s not fair to Pepper.”

With a sad smile, Tony said, “If what I'm feeling already is just the cycle heating up, I won't manage it. I love Pepper, but I can’t just walk away from you. Pepper has already made clear it's her or you. I can't have both."

Steve tried to reshape those words into something that he could understand, that he could make make sense. "Tony, I'm interested in you. There's no question about that. If you’re interested in me, why are we still _talking_ about this?” He tried to keep his voice even and calm, though he wasn’t sure how successful he was at hiding his frustration.

"I'm not able to have kids," Tony said, and then looked horrified for blurting it out.

"Good thing I don't want any, then," Steve said, not thrown by the non-sequitur. "What kind of life could I offer a kid? Not likely to make it to old age anyway."

Tony sighed. "I don't know what the fuck I want, Rogers. From what Pepper tells me and what I've been able to find, my body isn't going to give me much of a choice in sleeping with you. But if that happens, my relationship with Pepper is going to be so much smoke, gone in an instant. I don't want to lose her, but I don't want us both fighting a battle we're doomed to lose anyway."

Steve started to interrupt, only to have Tony hold up his hand. "I like you, Steve. As much as I hate to admit it, all of Howard's stories seem to be the plain, unvarnished truth, and you _are_ every bit of an actual nice guy as he claimed. I also know that this is hurting you, and it's going to eventually hurt me, and I'm not into that kind of pain. So I guess the question is, do we just get together when our bodies demand it, and fuck off the rest of the time?"

"Can I talk now?" Steve said. God, just having Tony in the same room was hard, but this was _important_ , maybe one of the most important conversations that he'd ever had, and he'd always managed the hard things before. When Tony nodded, Steve said, "I know that all of this is new to you -"

"I've known I was an Omega for years," Tony interrupted. "I just thought it was a moot point, that I'd destroyed the ability to bond with everything I've done to my body."

Steve grimaced. "I know a fair amount of what's happened to you, just from your files. And you're not a young kid, so I can see thinking that if it hadn't happened by now, it wasn't going to happen. But it _is_ happening. It's not going to get easier, not if they haven't found a way to break bonds since I went under. And I'm a little offended that you think I'd want to use you just to scratch an itch. I've never done that to anyone at all, and I'm not going to start with the man that I'm bonded with. But I've also never come between a guy and his girl before, and I don't plan to start. I'm stronger than you think - I managed seventy years ago, I can control myself now."

Tony laughed a little, but it had a wet sound to it. "You think I'm worried about _your_ self-control? Seriously?"

That's it, Steve was done with this conversation until he could think clearly. He hadn't thought that there was something harder than being bonded to your best friend, but being bonded to someone who didn't want you was infinitely worse. Gripping his arms tightly as if that would help him keep control, he said, "Tony, what the _fuck_ do you want? Do you want me to try to convince Pepper to let you use me to control your heats and my ruts? I'll go along with it - won't like it, but I'll go along - or do you want me to go to the other end of the world and see if that works? What the hell do you _want_?"

Tony took a deep shaky breath, and then blurted out, "If you want more than just the Alpha/Omega bond - if you're willing to see if we can be friends and lovers and whatever else outside of the cycle - then I, fuck it, I'll tell Pepper we're going to try. I can't see any other way that leads to both of staying sane."

Steve watched as Tony took a deep shaky breath. Then Tony closed his eyes and said, "I don't think that I can resist this. I don't know that I want to. You are an amazing Alpha and man and superhero. I don't know what else to do but admit that biology sometimes really is uncontrollable and give in to it. And if I'm really honest, it's more than just biology. I want you in ways that I've never wanted anyone before, even if I've been denying it since the Chitauri."

Blink. Blink blink. Steve felt like one of those little kewpie dolls that they used to give out down at Coney Island. "Did you just say you want to have a relationship with me?"

Tony slid down the door, and ended up sitting on the floor. "I - I think I did?"

Steve laughed, and it was the first laugh that was honest in so long that he couldn't even remember the last one. "Why the hell - it's not like you actually know me."

"You don't know me, either," Tony said. He made no effort to stand up. Instead, he stretched his legs out in front of him and folded his arms in front of his chest. "Maybe when you get to know me, you'll hate me as much as you did on the helicarrier."

"That was Loki," Steve said firmly. "Look, I don't know you directly, because you've not stood still long enough for me to get to know you. But I've read as much about you as I can get my hands on, and everything I've read points to someone that I'd at least be proud to call my friend. Besides, you got someone as neat as Pepper to love you, so there has to be something there."

For a long moment, they just stared at each other, as if both of them were having trouble realizing that they were actually agreeing with each other. Tony started to reach out towards Steve, and then pulled his hand back, tapping random rhythms on his arc reactor as the silence stretched on, as sweat prickled at the small of Steve’s back and tears at his eyes. Then Tony licked his lips, his gaze clearly fastened on Steve’s mouth.

With that, Steve's self-control snapped. He was up and moving forward without consciously deciding to do so, only barely able to stop before he put his hands on Tony. "Say no, Tony. Say it now, if you're going to say it."

Tony's chin came up rebelliously. Steve reached out, grabbing Tony by the arms and pulling him up to his feet and _hard_ against Steve's body. His cock rubbed against Tony's stomach, and he could feel the answering bulge of Tony's cock riding his thigh. Bending his head, he took Tony's mouth in the roughest, wettest, kiss he'd ever had.

Within moments, he was wound tighter than he'd ever been with Bucky, and he could understand why the other Alphas had always thought they were so wrong to resist. Heat and pressure and both of them moving, twisting, and thank god Tony was moving _into_ him and not pulling away, because Steve didn't think he could have stopped if he tried.

It felt like it had only been seconds, but he was coming hard enough that he seemed to have lost feeling in his feet, and he could smell the scent of Tony's release as well. That was enough to shock him into pulling back. 

Tony looked startled and wide-eyed, but not like he was horrified or upset. "Uh, sorry," Steve said. "I shouldn't have - "

"Yes, you should have," Tony interrupted. "You absolutely should. And you should do it again, as soon as possible."

Steve bit the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood, and the sharp tang was enough to clear his head for just a second. "I can't - we both need to be thinking clearly to make this decision, Tony. I need to get out of here, get the rut through my system. You need to get through heat. Then we'll talk again."

It was Tony's turn to blink as if surprised. "Right. Should see if we are compatible out of cycle. But you know it's going to suck."

Heat was already building in Steve's gut again. "I know better than you do, Tony. But right, compatible. How about a date or two first? So get me back to my apartment, let us both get through this, and then maybe we can get to know each other a little more before we jump to fucking like rabbits."

"Nothing wrong with fucking like rabbits. Much maligned animals, I've found," Tony said. "But, fine, I can't actually argue because being in the same room as you is killing my brain cells. So, I'm going to call SHIELD and get them to get someone to take you home. And when we're done, we'll see where we'll go from there, okay?"

"Okay," Steve said. Even with the rut pulling at him, he felt a thousand pounds lighter. "Except that I don't know if they have anyone available to watch me. The doctor who came earlier said all the teams were busy."

"I smell Fury's hand in that," Tony said, snorting. "Probably figured if they left us together, nature would force the issue. To be fair, it kind of did."

Steve felt heat rising in his cheeks, but it was nothing compared to the heat rising in other places. "If you want to get to know me when I'm not in rut, you should go. Because my self-control is only so good and I'm having more and more trouble holding onto it."

That got Tony scrambling for the door. He opened it, started to go out in the hall, and then darted back and pressed a quick kiss to Steve's mouth. "I'll get someone here soon," he said, and then slipped out of the door.

**10\. Tony**

It took longer than he'd like to admit, but he finally got the SHIELD flunky to agree to send someone to escort Steve to his apartment in Brooklyn. In his gut, he didn't like the idea of sending Steve so far away, especially since he knew that this was going to be deeply unpleasant for both of them. But he also wanted - no, _needed_ for there to be some evidence that this was more than just hormones. 

He'd spent his twenties being led around by his dick, and hadn't that worked out so well for him. If he was going to lose Pepper as a lover, he wanted it to be for a good reason, not just for a quick fuck.

God, he might actually be growing up. What a horrible thought.

Once JARVIS informed him that Agent Barton had arrived and taken Steve out of the building, Tony decided that he needed to get all the crappy shit over at once, like ripping off a bandaid. Pepper had said to call, but as long as he was going to be a grown up, he was going to do this face-to-face.

"JARVIS, is Pepper in her office? And is she by herself?"

"She is in her office, sir, but she's with one of the members of the research team working on the new tablet software. Should I interrupt?"

Tony started to say yes, then realized what he must look like. God only knows what Steve had thought about the crazy, filthy man in his room. Plus he reeked of his and Steve's come. "No, I'm going to go shower. Is there anything on her schedule that is marked as urgent? If not, can you clear her schedule for the rest of the afternoon?"

"Yes, sir. There's nothing that can't be rescheduled for the next few days. Should I let her know you're coming?"

"No. Just... don't let her leave." Tony hurried to his suite and started the shower, taking the fastest one he'd had in years. 

He was starting to feel miserable. He knew from his research that his first heat was going to be mild compared to what would happen once he was fully bonded. But mild was a relative word and this talk was going to be hard enough without waiting until his brain was mush. Pepper had probably been right in that it had started when Rog - Steve and he had fought together. It would explain why he'd felt so off for the last few weeks, anyway. But that was no excuse for putting this off.

He'd faced down hostile terrorists with a hole in his chest. He could talk to Pepper calmly and not break down. He could.

He _could_.

As soon as he was clean and dressed, he headed down to Pepper's office. Her administrative assistant raised an eyebrow, but when he asked if Pepper was free, she nodded and buzzed into the office. "Ms. Potts? Mister Stark is here to see you."

"Send him in, Linda," Pepper's voice said, and Tony tossed the assistant a jaunty salute before opening the door. No need to let the whole world know that he was getting ready to rip open a new part of his heart.

He carefully didn't look at Pepper until the door was closed behind him. Then he met her eyes, and apparently his expression was saying things that he didn't give it permission to, because her lower lip started to quiver. "So, that's it, then," she said.

"Pepper, I just... I don't see any other solution that doesn't mean that I'm lying to you. And like you said, that means I'd lose you entirely, and I want you in my life too much to let that happen."

She let out a soft sigh, one that Tony internally catalogued as one her special "Tony" sighs. "Honestly, after talking to Captain Rogers, I knew this was going to happen," she said. "But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping for another solution."

"I know," he said. He wanted to move forward, but it felt like his feet were nailed to the floor. 

"I'll arrange to have my things moved to my old apartment. Should I avoid visiting the penthouse for a few days?" she asked.

Tony cleared his throat, trying to shake images that he was pretty sure were coming right from whatever gland handled bonding and heats. "Actually, we're not going to do... that, right now," he said. "We're going to wait until we're both through our cycles, and then we're going on a date."

She started laughing, and it was her happy, delighted laugh that he loved so much. "That will be a first, you not being controlled by your hormones," she said. "I'm not surprised that you're already cycling together, though. It explains a lot."

"Hey!" he said, faux-defensively. "I'll have you know that I've grown as a person."

She came out from behind her desk and walked over, wrapping her arms around him and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "You have," she said, "and I'm very glad of it. I have to admit that while I didn't want this, I think it could be good for you."

He turned his head and pressed a kiss to her hair. "It might be, might not. But you definitely are."

"I love you, Tony. No matter what, I love you. Remember that, okay?" she said.

"I will," he said. "And I love you, too. If I didn't, this would be a lot easier."

She straightened and pushed him away gently. "Now, you go on, get out of here," she said. "I've got a few more meetings to get through."

"No, you don't," he said. "I had JARVIS clear your schedule, just, well, just in case."

"Thank you," she said. "I appreciate the thought, but I still have work to do, and so do you. I just... even if you're not getting together with him right away, don't expect to see a lot of me for a little while, okay? I know I told you to do this, and I'll be okay with it, but it's going to take me more than a few hours to really take it in."

"Take all the time you need," he said, backing away from her slowly. He mourned a little when she just let him go. "I'll be here when you're ready to come back."

"I know. And Tony? Tell Captain Rogers that if he doesn't treat you right, he'll have to deal with me." She looked fierce, and Tony could only imagine what would happen in that case.

"I'll tell him," he said, and then hurried out of the office before he could throw himself at Pepper's feet and beg her to figure out a way to make this work. He'd known when he'd gotten involved with her that she was monogamous, and he was hardly going to be able to change her mind now.

He debated going back to the penthouse, but there were too many memories there and nothing really to do. So he took himself back to the workshop.

Once there, he opened the file that he'd had JARVIS assemble when he’d realized the level of systemic damage that had been caused by the arc reactor. In it was all of the information they'd been able to find about Omegas and heats. He'd only browsed through it casually before coming to the conclusion that because of the damage to his proto-uterus and the palladium poisoning, any sort of bond was impossible. Clearly, that was wrong.

But all of the information he had was really only about pairbonding that happened when the pair were teenagers or early adults. There didn't seem to be a single case where one of the bonded was in their forties when the bond was formed. He had JARVIS dig a bit more while he dithered back and forth. He was feeling worse by the moment, partially because he was so lacking in knowledge of what he should actually expect. Plus, he was feeling more and more... sick wasn’t the right word, but he didn’t seem to know what the right words would be. He finally admitted that he needed information straight from an Omega, not from a dry academic text or badly written porn. Fine. "JARVIS, see if you can get me Coulson on the line."

While JARVIS called the man, Tony tried to distract himself with improvements to the suit but he felt strange, like the weirdest combination of horny and hungover that he'd ever felt. He wanted to chase after Steve to see if being together would fix it, but he'd agreed, and going back on his word wouldn't be a good start to a relationship.

JARVIS said, "I have located Agent Coulson, sir. He is en route to the tower. Do you want to talk to him on the phone or wait until he arrives?"

"He was already on his way here?" Tony asked.

"Apparently. I suspect it has to do with the fact that it was Agent Barton who took Captain Rogers home."

"Oh, yeah. Guess that makes sense. Wonder what he's supposed to tell me." Tony couldn't decide whether Coulson was going to inform him of some miracle to let them break the bond or tell him that he should go along with it for the good of the world. He also couldn't decide which would be more infuriating to hear.

It was only a few minutes before JARVIS announced that Coulson was at the door to the workshop. "Let him in, J," he said.

Coulson came in, took one look at him, and swore, creatively, for about thirty seconds. "So you two really did start a bond, didn't you?"

"How the hell - "

"Give me a break," Coulson said. "You had to at least suspect that SHIELD knew that you were an Omega. And if you don't think another Omega can identify one going into heat, you're an idiot."

"Fine, yes, I'm an Omega, yes, we're bonding, yes, I'm going in to heat. Now tell me what I _don't_ know!" Tony demanded.

Coulson's face softened. "If you know all of that, why aren't you with Captain Rogers?"

"Because, well, because. Our first time... why the hell am I explaining this to you? It's none of your fucking business." Tony buried his head in hands. It wasn't that he was embarrassed. It was that it was private, and soon enough the whole world was going to know something that he'd kept a secret as long as he'd known about it.

The touch of Coulson's hand on his shoulder was unexpected. Tony knew, logically, that the man was capable of kindness, or Pepper wouldn't have liked him so much. But he'd never had it directed at him, and now that it was, he wasn't sure he liked it. "Mister Stark - "

Tony snorted. "Just call me Tony. I suspect we're getting ready to talk about my sex life."

"Not really - eventually you'll figure that part out. And I'm not going to tell you that being bonded is easy. But I am going to tell you that it's definitely worth it, _Tony_. And stop calling me Coulson, then." The hand squeezed firmly, then withdrew, and Tony looked up. 

"What, no threats, Phil?" Tony said. He was only partly joking. Steve was special in ways that Tony had not understood. Now that he had an inkling of it, he could understand why Coulson was so protective of him.

"There's no point in threatening you. You are not the person that I would have picked to bond with Captain Rogers, no, but he's a grown man and fully capable of defending himself from you if he needs to. But - "

"Oh, here we go," Tony muttered.

"You do need to be aware that as far as SHIELD records indicate, Captain Rogers doesn't appear to have had a great deal of experience with... relationships, aside from the platonic bond with Sergeant Barnes and courting Agent Carter. And as far we know, that one was never consummated."

Tony looked at him shock. "Don't tell me that he's a fucking virgin."

"I'm not saying that," Phil said, his tone careful. "I'm telling you that his level of experience is completely unknown, so you might have to take the lead for anything that happens outside of rut and heat."

"Oh, Jesus Christ. What the hell have I gotten myself into?" Tony asked rhetorically.

Phil smiled. "Once you get it sorted out? The best thing that ever happened to you."

 **11\. Steve**

By the time Steve was really aware of what was going on around him, he was _exhausted_. He'd forgotten what it was like to go through rut at all, and he'd never gone all the way through one by himself. Muscles that he didn't even know he had were aching, and all he wanted was to sleep. But there were soft sounds coming from his living room, and a familiar but unplaceable smell.

Forcing himself out of his sweaty, disgusting bed, he stumbled to the bedroom door. Opening it, he found Barton sitting on the couch, watching TV with the volume off but the subtitles on. He looked up and gave Steve a grin. Steve forced himself to return it, but he still felt the lack of Tony deep in his bones. They'd agreed to this. That didn't mean that it didn't suck.

"Well, I've seen week-old roadkill that looks better, but at least you seem to be aware of more than the fact that Stark isn't here," Barton said.

Steve had foggy memories of demanding that Tony be there. His face felt like it was on fire. "How many days was I out?" Steve said. He desperately wanted a shower, but wasn't sure that his legs were going to support him that long. Instead he carefully walked to the armchair and collapsed into it. The shower was going to have to wait a little longer.

"It's been three days. Phil's been at the tower, says that Stark is mostly okay - acting like a bad tempered ass with a case of the flu, not anywhere as bad as it's been here."

Steve leaned his head back and closed his eyes, feeling his cheeks heat in a blush. "Do I even want to know?"

"Nothing unexpected, Captain," Barton said, his tone light. "I'm pretty sure I've heard livestock make those same noises."

Slowly, Steve rolled his head around and opened his eyes to glare at Barton. "You're an ass."

"And you're not the first person to make that observation. Phil will delightfully regale you with all the ways I've managed to piss people off if you get him started." Barton was still smiling, like this was the most amusing thing he'd seen in days. "But seriously, that was one hell of a rut and you went through it by yourself. The noise wasn't too bad."

A thought occurred to Steve. "Wait - my rut used to set off the other Alphas. Why aren't you having a problem?"

Barton sighed. "Because we do have suppressants now. Your effect on Alphas is documented, so as soon as SHIELD realized what was happening, and that there was a possibility you were going to be more noble than smart, they started dosing both of us up on them." 

Steve started to ask why he hadn't just been told about them when Barton continued. "They only work on bonded pairs, though, and even then, not great. They've also got some pretty unpleasant side effects. Honestly, as soon as I know you're safe and I can get someone else here, I'm going to go home, stop taking them, and tackle Phil."

Right then even thinking about sex hurt. He couldn't really blame Barton for not wanting to avoid rut, though, since it had always looked like fun for the other bonded pairs. He couldn't help wondering how much better it would be to go through with Tony, and his cock, as exhausted as it was, stirred in his pants.

"So, why are you still here?" Steve asked.

"Phil and I are both on call for this until we know for a fact that both of you have made it through the other side and are steady on your feet. And I figured you'd want a chance to get it together before I brought in a non-Alpha to keep you company as protection."

Steve bit his tongue. He didn't want protection. He wanted Tony.

Date. They'd agreed to go on a date, and there was no reason he couldn't call Tony at least.

"Where's my phone?" he asked Barton, unable to remember anything after getting back to his apartment, much less something as relatively unimportant as where he'd dropped all his stuff when he made it through the door.

"Plugged in in the kitchen. And if you're going to call Stark, I'm going up to the roof, so that you have some privacy."

He couldn't help it - he rolled his eyes. "You're still going to be able to hear me from the roof. Building's only four stories."

"Yeah, but let's pretend that I won't be able to," Barton said, that same cheesy grin on his face. "Yell for me when you're done, and in the meantime I'm going to go count pigeons."

Knowing that was as much privacy as he was going to get, he sighed and went to get his phone. It was the much fancier phone that Stark had insisted the whole team needed, but the important thing was that the contact for the tower was right there on the first screen. Pressing the icon, he listened as it rang once, twice, and on the third ring, JARVIS answered. "Captain Rogers?"

"Hi, JARVIS. Is Tony able to come to the phone?"

"It will be just a minute. Agent Coulson is leaving the workshop and sir is untangling himself from one of the suit prototypes. I hope you're feeling better."

"I am, thank you."

"Hey, Steve," Tony sounded pretty good, all things considered.

"You doing okay?" Steve asked.

"I'm definitely doing better than you were from the sounds of things," Tony said.

"Let me guess, Barton was carrying tales out of school?" Steve tried to summon the energy to be mad, but he was too exhausted for it.

"Um, mostly because I kept demanding information, and it was either tell me, or find a way to keep me from getting into one of my suits and finding out for myself." Tony sounded downright rueful. "They didn't have much choice but to keep me in the loop. I'm not sure how much sense I was making though - I've only really been clear-headed for a few hours."

The fact that Tony had been demanding information on him, and had to be stopped from coming to him, made Steve's stomach do slow somersaults. There was something about knowing that his bondmate was as invested as he was that was doing weird things to him. "Well, at least it's over for the moment," Steve said. "I can actually think. Barton says it's been three days?"

"Yes, three very long, very horny days," Tony said. Steve knew that Tony couldn't see him, but he started to blush. "If this is just the intro heat, real heat might just kill me. I have a heart condition, you know."

Steve wasn't quite certain what to do with this version of Tony, one who seemed to have accepted the situation and the implications with better grace than Steve himself ever had.

He only realized he hadn't answered when Tony called his name. "Uh, sorry. Still a little out of it. So, what now?"

"I was distinctly promised a date," Tony said.

Chuckling, Steve said, "Yeah, but I haven't exactly been able to plan anything."

"Oh, don't worry, I have," Tony said. "Coulson says you won't be up for much till tomorrow, so I'll pick you up tomorrow evening at six."

"What do you have planned?" Steve asked suspiciously. 

"You'll see." Tony sounded downright coy.

"Tony, have you slept at all since I left?" The silence he got in response was answer enough. "I'm not the only one who needs to recover. I'm not going out on a date with you until you've had at least eight hours of continuous sleep."

"I've tried." Tony's voice was quiet, practically a whisper. "Never knew that it could be impossible to sleep without someone you've never slept with in the first place. But, yeah, after this call, I'm headed to bed, too."

"I need a shower first," Steve said without thinking.

"Now that was a mental image I like," Tony said. "Tomorrow, six. Clothes will be brought by tomorrow by four."

"Clothes? What?" But Tony had hung up the phone. Steve held it up and stared at it for a moment, then shrugged. He needed that shower. Raising his voice, he said, "Okay, Barton, come on back."

It only took a few minutes before Barton was swinging back in the window. "Whew - I didn't realize how ripe it was in here," he said. "I'll tell you what - you go take a shower. I'll open the windows and change your sheets if you'll direct me to clean ones."

"You don't have to do that," Steve said, but he had to admit he wasn't exactly up to doing it himself.

"Take it as a service to myself as much as you," Barton said. "I called Phil while I was up there. It's going to be tomorrow before we're relieved, so I don't exactly want to sit in a sea of pheromones."

"Fair enough, I guess," Steve said. "Sheets are in the linen closet in the bathroom, I'll get you a set."

By the time he'd gotten the sheets out, Barton was busily throwing open every window, and for once there was a decent breeze. At least it was fall, so it wasn't blistering hot or freezing cold. Leaving the sheets next to the bed, he grabbed clean sweats and headed for the shower.

One advantage the tower had over his apartment was definitely the showers. The head on this one was low enough that he had to duck to get his hair wet, and he knew from experience that he only had about eight minutes before the water would start to go cold. While his mind strayed to the idea of jerking off quickly - talking to Tony had gotten him going again - he didn't have time. Instead, he quickly scrubbed up, getting rid of the sweat... and other things... and was just finishing as the hot water ran out.

He dried off thoroughly, and then pulled on the clean, dry, soft sweats, and went back out to the living room. When he'd come back to himself, there had been a tray next to the bed, so he knew he'd eaten in the last three days, but it didn't matter. He was _starving_. 

The apartment already smelled better, so he settled back in the armchair and said, "Okay, food. Do I have anything edible in the refrigerator?"

Barton frowned at him. "There's some sandwich stuff, but I didn't know how long you were going to take and hot food is always better anyway. I've already ordered from a couple of different places, since I don't know what kind of food you eat except for pizza. You didn't even eat shawarma with us - I think you were trying not to fall asleep in the food."

"That's true," Steve said. "I'll eat pretty much anything, though. After you've had rabbit and bean stew cooked in someone's helmet, there isn't much point in being picky."

"Uh, gross," Barton said. "The food should be here in about forty-five minutes. In the meantime, I'll make you something quick to tide you over and then I have time to introduce you to one of the great things about the twenty-first century - TV!"

"Barton, I have a TV. You're watching it." Steve couldn't help but laugh a little though. Barton seemed a little cracked, but in what was mostly a fun way.

"Yeah, but I bet you haven't watched the best show on right now - _Dog Cops_."

" _Dog Cops_ ," Steve repeated. "A show about cops who are dogs?"

"That's the simple way of looking at it. There's so much more to it!" And then Barton put on the show, and Steve had to admit that it was fun, like a lot of the modern movies he'd seen. Not a lot of substance, but right now he didn't think his brain could handle substance anyway.

By the time the food got there, "Barton" had become "Clint" and Steve knew more about his and Coulson's relationship than he ever wanted to. But he also thought that he was on his way to making a friend, and that was always a good thing.

After eating, Steve started yawning so hard that he felt like his face was going to crack in half. Clint just grinned and waved him towards his bedroom. "Get some actual sleep, Steve. You've got a big day tomorrow."

"Aw, fuck you, Clint," Steve mumbled, but he couldn't deny that bed sounded awful good. He was already clean, so he just skinned down to his boxers and slid under the clean sheets. He curled up, and then he stopped thinking as he fell asleep.

He only woke up when the door to the room opened. He flailed for a moment, disoriented as there was far too much light in the room. Flipping over, he saw Clint standing at the door. "Wha - "

"Hey, it's time to wake up," Clint said. "You've been asleep for about twenty hours, and I just took delivery of some clothes that Stark sent."

"Jesus, is it four o'clock already?" Steve asked as he sat up, stretching and trying to blink the sleep from his eyes.

"Yep, and according to Phil, Stark plans to be here at six on the dot, so you've just got time to eat something, shower, and get dressed."

"Okay, I can do that." He climbed out of the bed, took a moment to make it, and then went to the bathroom to take care of necessities. Once that was done, he headed out to the kitchen. Clint had ordered more food than the two of them had been able to eat yesterday. Steve didn't want to fill up, since he didn't know what Stark had planned, but he definitely needed something in his stomach. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept so long or so well.

He was baffled by the clothes that Tony had sent. He wouldn't have been surprised by a suit or something dressier than his usual khakis, but what the hell were they doing that required a tuxedo? A little worried, he dressed carefully, afraid that he might crease the fine material. 

There was a knock on the door just as he was fighting with the tie. Before he could get there, Barton was already up and opening it. There was Tony, looking delectable in a black on black tuxedo that just made Steve want to take it off him.

"Hi," Tony said, and while his tone was casual, his posture was anything but. If he had stood any straighter, Steve was pretty sure that his spine would have snapped. 

"Hi," Steve said. "Um, sorry I'm not ready. I don't know how to tie the tie."

Some of the stiffness slipped away. "Can't have that," Tony said, finally coming inside and reaching towards Steve's collar. "Here, let me."

It only took him seconds to tie it, but it was long enough to let Steve get a good whiff of just how good Tony smelled. "Do we actually have to go out?" he asked.

"I thought we were going on a date," Tony said. "Not going to back out on me now, are you?"

Tony meant it as a challenge, Steve _knew_ that Tony meant it as a challenge, and yet he couldn't help but fall for it. "Right, date. So where are we going, anyway?"

"That's for me to know and you to just sit back and enjoy." Tony turned and headed towards the door, and a little intimidated by his self-confidence, Steve followed. Glancing over, he saw Clint sketch a salute, and then they were on their way down to where Tony was double parked.

Steve had expected a limo, driven by someone else. Instead, there was a car that would not have been out of place in the forties, except for just how shiny it was. It was double parked, and Steve boggled a little that it hadn't been ticketed yet, but decided he just wasn't going to worry about it. Tony clearly had a plan.

He got in, settled back, and decided to luxuriate in being with Tony for the first time since they agreed to try this. It felt so good to be close to him again. They made good time, even with New York rush hour traffic, and Steve recognized the neighborhood they were headed to rather quickly. "Isn't this near Radio City Music Hall?" he asked.

"Yes. We're going to a show." Tony glanced at him and smiled, but there was something small and secretive in it. 

As they parked in a lot on 52nd street, Steve was a little worried about the security of the car. Then Tony pushed a button on a device attached to his keys, and something shimmered around the edges of the car. Steve stared for a second, and when Tony noticed, said, "It's fine, Steve. JARVIS is watching the car now. No one can touch it."

Well, that was interesting. Steve was a little curious on how it worked, but Tony was already walking away, so Steve obediently followed. When Tony held out his hand, Steve hesitated for a moment, and then quietly took it in his own.

Tony's grip wasn't tight, but there was a faint tremble in the muscles that made Steve realize Tony wasn't as certain about all of this as he was acting. That actually made him feel better.

Then they got to the theater, and Steve realized there was no show going on tonight. According to the sign over the door, the next show was some band he'd never heard of, in two days. "What -"

"Just trust me, Steve," Tony said, and before Steve could argue, Tony had his phone to his ear. Moments later, the door swung open, letting them in.

Steve had been to the music hall once, before the war, but it looked clean and fresh, like it had just been built. From somewhere ahead, he could hear the sounds of an orchestra warming up. It was familiar and a little terrifying at the same time, because other than the man who'd let them in, there was no one in the lobby.

"Hello, Mister Stark, Captain Rogers," the man said. "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to your seats. Everyone is just about ready."

"What did you _do_?" Steve hissed as they followed the man into the theater proper. Their goal wasn't obvious, since the seating area was almost completely empty. There were only a couple of other people, but Tony ignored them completely so Steve had no idea who they were. On the stage, however, the dancers were gathered together, chatting quietly. 

"You'll see," Tony said, and then they were being seated in the front row. The man who had brought them in made sure they were comfortable and then hurried away.

"Okay, ladies, from the top," someone called, and all of the dancers hurried off the stage. The lights lowered, and what followed was absolutely surreal.

From all appearances, Tony had managed to get them a private showing of a dress rehearsal of the Christmas show. It was still spell-binding, even though it was still just a rehearsal.

The dancers were gorgeous and skilled. Steve loved every second of the spectacle in front of him, even though in the back of his head he couldn't help wondering how much this was costing. Soon enough he’d make clear to Tony that he didn't need to be bought.

He was startled when the lights came back up, unaware of how much time had passed. Tony was applauding next to him, and Steve did the same. The director came over to them from his seat in the orchestra section. "Thank you, gentlemen. I think I speak for everyone when I say that it was an honor to perform for you."

"It was amazing to watch," Steve said. "Is there any way to thank you?"

He smiled. "I'm sure the ladies would love to have their pictures taken with the two of you?"

"Of course," Tony said, already heading towards the stairs up to the stage. Steve scrambled to follow, a little surprised to be asked, but perfectly willing to go along with it.

After several minutes of picture-taking, Tony said, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to cut this short. We have dinner reservations that we really need to make."

They were escorted out of the theater, and as they walked back to the car, Steve found it impossible to voice any of the thoughts in head, still full of the music and the spectacle.

He assumed they were going to dinner, but he was a little surprised when they parked near what looked like an upscale grocery store. Tony led them confidently towards the back, where there was a kitchen area surrounded by a counter and chairs. And once again, they were the only customers there. Steve craned his eyes around and spotted a sign that indicated that they were closed on Mondays.

"Tony, don't tell me that you hired these people to be here on their day off," Steve whispered.

Tony whipped his head around. "Uh, okay. I won't tell you that."

"Welcome, gentlemen," a young Asian woman said. "If you'll have a seat, Chef Ramirez is just putting the finishing touches on your first course."

He obediently followed the young woman, but this was too much. He was just a kid from Brooklyn. The last thing he wanted or needed was for Tony to try and impress him with money.

The food was amazing, he had to admit, even when he couldn't identify ninety percent of it. He'd never seen such coordinated service, either, and no one seemed annoyed that they were working when they should have been off. But Steve never relaxed, feeling out of his element the whole time.

Finally, the meal was over, and Steve resisted the urge to just run away as Tony thanked the chef and the servers,. Instead he waited patiently, allowed his picture to be taken again, and then followed Tony back to the car.

When they got inside, Tony turned on the engine and then looked over at him. "Am I taking you home, Steve? Or do you want to come back to the tower with me?"

Steve thought back over the evening and realized that Tony didn't even seem to know how over the top he'd been. He probably thought this was a normal date. That let Steve calm down a little, but he needed to stop this before Tony thought he had to come up with a way to top it next time. "You know, you don't have to prove anything to me, Tony," he said.

"What do you mean?" Tony wasn't avoiding his gaze and his breathing and heart rate didn't change, so he knew that Tony meant it. He was right - Tony had no idea how weird this was, at least to Steve.

"This was a little over the top, don't you think?" Steve said quietly.

Now Tony's heart rate started to speed up, and he looked away. "I just wanted you to have a good time."

"And I did," Steve said. "But I would have had a good time at the Indian restaurant down the street from my apartment. You didn't have to do all _this_." He waved his hand around as if he could encapsulate the whole evening in one movement.

"Aw, fuck," Tony said. "I, uh, I guess I might have overdone it a little?"

Steve arched an eyebrow. "Just a bit," he said, but he smiled to try and soften the blow. "I'm not mad, but next time, not quite so much, okay? I'm a pretty simple guy - you don't have to impress me with your money."

"Pepper used to say the same thing." Tony gave a rueful little shrug. "I'll try to remember, but I can't guarantee it."

"That's because Pepper is an incredibly smart woman," Steve said, making Tony smile a little wistfully. 

"Yeah, she is. So I guess I'm taking you home, huh?" Tony said, but he was clearly trying not to look disappointed.

"Yes, this time," Steve said. "We said we'd get to know each other, remember?"

"Yeah," Tony said, and he carefully steered them back to Brooklyn. Miraculously, there was a spot in front of Steve's building, and once they were parked, Tony turned to look at Steve. Steve grinned and leaned forward, giving him a sweet, lingering kiss. Tony returned it eagerly, but he let Steve set the pace. 

When Steve broke the kiss and pulled back, Tony looked disappointed. Steve could sympathize but they'd agreed that this was important. That made it easier to stick with what they'd said. "Good night," Steve said, his hand on the door handle but his eyes still locked on Tony's mouth.

"Good night," Tony said, his voice low and throaty. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Steve's face flared bright red, but he laughed a little. "I think we're going to be doing the same thing," he said.

"Probably," Tony said. "Now go on, before I decide that you need to be escorted to your door."

Snorting a laugh, Steve opened the door and climbed out, leaning back in the window. "Call me when you get home," he said.

Tony licked his lips, and then said, "Sure. What do you want me to call you?"

Steve gave another laugh, stood up, tapped on the roof of the car, and then walked up the stairs to the front door of his building. Behind him, he could hear the engine of the car turn over, and it pulled away from Steve's building.

**12\. Steve**

It took a lot of self-control, but Steve managed to keep it to hand holding and soft, closed-mouthed kisses for more than two weeks. They didn't go out every night - Tony had too many commitments for that - but even on days they didn't see each other, there was always at least one phone call. Sometimes there were even three or four calls, just because one of them had thought of of something the other really needed to hear about.

Steve tried not think that it was probably taking even more self-control for Tony, since Tony actually had experience and knew what he was missing.

Over that time, Steve had learned a lot about Tony. He'd already guessed some of it - like the fact that Tony was a workaholic and that he’d probably never leave the workshop without a reason to do so. Some of it was a surprise, like the fact that Tony collected the letters written by various kids to Iron Man.

None of it changed Steve's mind about the fact that he was happy to be in a relationship with Tony, even though he still felt guilty about coming between Tony and Pepper. Thankfully, Tony didn't seem to blame him for it, even if Tony sometimes seemed a little melancholy when he talked about her.

It was Thursday night, and that meant it was Tony's turn to plan the date. He'd learned from the first one, and while it was still a restaurant that made Steve nervous just to exist in, it was no longer such an over-the-top attempt to impress.

After dinner, they walked through Times Square, protected by New Yorkers' instinctive reluctance to make a big deal over celebrities. Steve was still always amazed at how different Times Square was, and he didn't think he'd ever get tired of it.

As the stores started to shut down for the night, Tony brushed a kiss over his lips. "Time to take you home?" 

Taking a deep breath, Steve said, "I was actually hoping for a tour of the penthouse."

Tony's eyes grew huge in his face. "Really?"

"Really," Steve said. He didn't have a lot of experience in general, and none with guys. But he'd been thinking about this for weeks, and even without the rut coloring his thoughts, he still wanted it. And Steve figured that Tony probably had enough experience for both of them.

"All right then," Tony said, and turned his attention to getting them back to where they'd parked the car.

The brakes screeched as Tony pulled the car into a space under the tower, and he led the way to a discreetly hidden elevator. "Welcome home, sir, Captain Rogers," JARVIS said. "I hope you gentlemen had a pleasant evening?"

"It was great," Steve said. "Best thing was the company."

Steve could feel the blush that Tony was sporting as an increase in heat, even if he couldn't see anything but the tips of Tony’s ears going pink. The fact that Tony still blushed, even with all of his experience, was endearing.

"We're headed up, J," Tony said. "No interruptions unless the planet is at risk, okay?"

"Yes, sir." The elevator door slid open, and when they stepped inside, the walls were completely blank. The doors slid shut and the elevator sped upwards, fast enough that Steve could feel it in his gut. Or maybe that was just nerves. Hard to tell, really.

"So, you already have access to that elevator, any time you like," Tony said. The doors opened, and Steve realized that the elevator opened into what must be Tony's workshop. "It only has two stops - the garage and here. Come on." 

Steve would have actually liked to look around a bit, but he knew that he was just using it as a distraction. And hopefully he'd get a chance to explore later. He followed Tony out of the glass door and up a short flight of stairs into a large, gleaming kitchen that looked like it had never been used. 

Tony was talking, his hands waving around, but Steve had stopped listening. Instead, his focus was on Tony's mouth, which was still moving and moving and moving. Carefully, aware of his own strength, he reached out and grasped one of Tony's wrists. Tony instantly froze. "Steve?"

"I'm... I want to kiss you now," Steve said. "Can I do that?"

"Have I ever said no?" Tony asked, but he was staring hungrily at Steve's mouth. Thinking back, he realized he'd caught the edge of that look multiple times over the last two weeks.

"Not that kind of kiss," Steve said, wanting, no, _needing_ them to be on the same page.

"God, yes," Tony said, and then Steve had an armful of Tony, pressing close from chest to knee. Tony was several inches shorter than Steve was, but it didn't matter. He bent his head to press his lips to Tony's and it was like heat was crawling up his spine, a pleasant fire to all of his nerves.

Steve opened his mouth when Tony licked at his lips, not quite sure of what he was doing but sure that something good would happen if he did, and oh, God, the taste of Tony on his tongue. He groaned, his hands finding their way to Tony's shoulders. He managed to remember not to squeeze, but it was a close thing.

When Tony pulled away, Steve chased after him, but Tony said, "Hey, it's okay. I think we should continue the tour, maybe?"

"Don't care about the tour right now," Steve growled, still trying to get his mouth back on Tony's.

"This part you will, I promise," Tony said, and he twisted out of Steve's grip. "Follow me." Without looking back, he started walking away. Like there was any other option - Steve followed him.

He could see the bed before they were even inside the bedroom, and it was like cold water was splashed over him. "Tony, you need to know - " he started.

"It's all good," Tony said, and this time it was Tony's hand on his arm, pulling him towards that huge bed.

He stopped moving forward, and Tony looked puzzled. "What?"

"I don't know - " Steve got some of the words out, as embarrassing as they were, but they dried up before he could finish the sentence. He'd been trying to find a way to tell Tony this the entire time they'd been dating, but now he _had_ to.

"Never done this with a guy before, or never at all?" Tony didn't sound judgmental, just curious, and that made it a little easier. 

"I've, uh, I was with a couple of women before all this," he gestured towards his body. "But not since, and never with a guy."

"Well, guess my playboy past is going to come in useful," Tony said with a rueful smile. "I have, and I know what _I_ like. Just a matter of figuring out what _you_ like. So, we'll start slow, and if I try something you don't like, just tell me, and we'll do something else. You don't ever have to do anything you don't want to do."

Tony's words made Steve steadier, and he nodded. His stomach was still tied up in knots, though, and he froze when Tony's fingers found his tie. "Do you want to keep your clothes on for now?" Tony asked.

That broke the paralysis that had a hold of Steve. Shaking his head, he said, "No, just... slow?"

"I can do slow," Tony said, and he resumed untying Steve's tie.

There seemed to be some sort of parity going on. Tony would take off a piece of Steve's clothing and then take the same piece off himself. In between each piece, Tony's clever fingers traced lines of fire over every bit of exposed skin. By the time they got down to their shorts, Steve was panting like he was still that tiny asthmatic he'd been in the thirties. 

"Still doing okay?" Tony asked.

Steve nodded, not sure that he could form words. 

"Why don't we lie down?" Tony asked, but he didn't pull Steve towards the bed. He just stood there, and it took Steve a moment to realize that he was going to have to make the next move himself. The thought was paralyzing for a moment, and then he threw caution to the wind and took that first step.

Once he started moving, though, Tony moved with him, helping him ease back on the bed, spreading Steve out and bracing himself over Steve. They was barely touching, skin brushing only when Steve took a deep breath, and the tantalizing touches were almost more than he could bear. "Please," he whispered.

"God, you are _beautiful_ ," Tony breathed.

Steve couldn't help it, he arched his back and as his cock brushed against Tony's, he came in his shorts. 

Tony chuckled, but there was no cruelty in it. "I bet you can do that more than once," he said.

"Um, yes?" Steve answered.

"Ever count how many times in a row?" Tony was still propped up above him, and Steve marvelled at the strength in his arms to hold him up that long. Apparently all that time in the workshop built some pretty serious upper body strength.

"Outside of rut?" Steve asked and at Tony's nod, said, "I tried once to see. I went five times, but the fifth time hurt like a bitch." He reached out and brushed his fingers over Tony's cheek, needing that small touch to stay grounded.

"In rut?" Tony asked, his eyes sparkling brightly enough that Steve felt like he could fall into them and get lost. 

"I can't count that high," Steve said, but the thought made him laugh, which broke some of the tension inside of him.

Tony laughed, too, but it wasn't mean. It was clearly just honest amusement. "Well, that's a challenge for another day. Those wet shorts can't be comfortable. You about ready to take them off?"

Just like that, the nerves were back, but if Steve could face down aliens, he could do this. "Yeah," he said, and reached down to try and push them off.

"Ah, ah, ah," Tony said. "Let me handle it." He rolled to the side and made quick work of both Steve's shorts and his own. 

And just like that, Steve was naked with another man, and it wasn't scary or overwhelming. It was just... right. He reached out, and Tony came willingly, pressing up against Steve's body and the feel of all that skin, so warm and alive, was enough to have him ready to go again almost immediately. 

"You think about what you might want?" Tony asked.

Steve shook his head. "Whatever you want to give me," he said.

Tony pressed a kiss to his mouth quickly and then pulled away. "Okay, from my reading, when you're in rut, it'll be me getting penetrated, right?" Tony asked, and the clinical words gave Steve a little distance, made it easier to wait.

"I think so. Remember, never done that," Steve said.

"Never did any research on it?" Tony kissed him again. This time, Steve pulled him close before he could pull away, deepening the kiss. He didn't want to talk about it, any of it. He just wanted them both to feel good, however they got there.

This time, when the kiss broke, he was gratified that Tony seemed to be struggling for words. Besides, he'd had a thought that he was pretty sure Tony would like. "I want to suck you." It was possibly the dirtiest thing he'd ever said - it was something that even fast girls didn't do when he was younger. But the little bit that he'd seen told him it wasn't bad anymore.

Tony groaned. "Oh, god, that sounds good. But I'm older than you - if I go off, that's going to be it for me. Let me get you off at least once more first, okay? And we really should get you some practice with fucking me before the next time you go into rut."

"Tony," Steve growled. "You talk too much."

Laughing delightedly, Tony said, "So I've been told. How about you shut me up, then?"

Steve thought for a moment, then started to gently push on Tony's shoulders. Not hard enough to force him, but enough to make his desire clear. Tony pushed back, just a little. "Use your words, Steve," he said. "If you want it, you should be able to say it."

"Suck me, _please_ ," Steve said. No, _that_ was the dirtiest thing he'd ever said.

"As you wish," Tony said, and Steve groaned as he slid down Steve's body. "Don't get the reference? We'll have to have movie night." Before Steve could say anything in response, though, Tony's mouth was sliding down his cock, and oh, God, that was the best thing _ever_. He would be willing to let the rest of the world go to hell if he could stay right here, with his cock in Tony's wet, warm mouth.

And then Tony started to move, and suck, and it got even _better_.

Steve was back to being unable to catch his breath, but he didn't care. He was going to die happy, and it was going to happen fast.

Then Tony slowed everything way down, tracing designs around the head of Steve's cock with his tongue, just the tip in his mouth, and Steve whimpered without control. "Please," he found himself begging.

Instead of taking him deeper, Tony pulled off entirely. "Shh, it'll be better if I let it drag out just a little," he said. "I'm going to make you come, I promise. Just let me get you there my way."

Steve wanted to argue, but instead he found himself nodding helplessly. And then he lost all control as Tony seemed to really apply himself to taking Steve apart with his mouth. He didn't confine himself to Steve's cock, either - both balls got kissed and gently sucked, his inner thighs got nibbled, and then he backed off again, just long enough for Steve to open his eyes and watch as Tony sucked on his own fingers. That seemed odd until the tip of one was pressed against his hole as Tony watched his face curiously.

It didn't feel _bad_ , and Steve pressed down a little. "No, not right now," Tony said. "Spit makes a terrible lube. But you don't mind being touched here?"

"No. Just feels a little weird," Steve said honestly. 

"Something to try next time," Tony said, and kept up a gentle pressure on the outside of Steve’s hole as he went back to sucking his cock. This time Tony didn't tease, just a firm pressure on the head of Steve’s cock, Tony’s tongue moving in patterns that Steve swore he was going to memorize and use when it was his turn. 

He remembered that it was polite to warn from the little bit of reading that he'd done, but he barely got out, "Tony, I'm - " before his orgasm burst out of him in long spurts.

Tony swallowed around him, taking it all in, until Steve was a sweating, heaving, oversensitive mess. When he couldn't stand it any more, he whimpered, "Enough," and Tony slowly pulled away. 

Steve reached out blindly, grabbing Tony by the arm and drew him up into a kiss. Tony was strangely hesitant until Steve realized it was probably because of where his mouth had just been. He didn't care that he could taste himself in Tony's mouth. All that he cared about was getting as close to Tony as he could.

Once he'd caught his breath, he pushed Tony to the side and started to slide down, only to be stopped by Tony's hand under his chin. "You don't have to," Tony said warmly. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

Steve smiled at the words. He had no idea how Tony had manufactured such a bad boy image if he had been this considerate with his other lovers. "I'm not going to be as good as you," he said honestly, "But I want to try."

"It's not going to take much," Tony said, releasing his grip on Steve's face. "Your reactions - it was all I could not to hump the bed until I came."

"I'm glad you didn't," Steve said. Then he was face-to-cock and it was time to put his money where his mouth was, so to speak. He knew he couldn't compete with Tony's fancy moves, so he just opened his mouth and took in as much as he could.

And promptly choked when Tony's cock bumped the back of his throat.

He pulled back, coughing, and he could hear the way that Tony was trying not to laugh. "Maybe, try a little less?" Tony said. "This isn't a competition, and I'm not judging. I promise."

Once Steve was breathing normally, he tried again. This time, he was more careful to judge depth, so at least he didn't choke. But as he slowly slid up and down Tony's cock, he felt like he wasn't really sure what he was doing. Pulling off, he said, "Give me a little guidance?"

"I can do that," Tony said, and one of his warm hands slid into Steve's hair, pushing gently. That made it simpler - he just needed to follow the movements of that hand. Tony’s scent was strong in Steve's nose, his taste in Steve's mouth. He closed his eyes, focused on the hand and the cock and the wonderful, wonderful sounds that Tony was making, and when Tony said, "Steve, if you don't want a mouthful, pull off now," he didn't care.

Tony came with a low groan. There was more of it than Steve could handle, so little bits of it ran from the corners of his mouth and down his chin. Before Steve could find something to wipe himself clean with, Tony was hauling him up, licking it off his face. 

"Oh, oh, God," Steve groaned, hard and wanting again. But Tony had gotten him off twice, and that was good enough.

Then Tony gave him an evil grin, and his hand wrapped around Steve's length, pulling and tugging at his cock. It wasn't better than Tony's mouth, but it was definitely an improvement over his own hand, and he came quickly with a soft sigh. 

When Tony lifted his hand to his mouth, clearly intending to lick it clean the same way, Steve whimpered. "Oh, my God, you're going to kill me."

"I'm the one with a heart condition," Tony said, completely unrepentant, and started cleaning his hand thoroughly.

Even with such hot inspiration, Steve was down for the moment. As soon as the show was over, he shifted over on his back and pulled Tony in, wanting to just touch as much of Tony as he could. Tony went stiff for a second, and then relaxed.

It was enough to get Steve's attention, though. "What is it?"

"I'm just not used to being on this side of the cuddle equation," Tony said, but he didn't seem to really be objecting now that he was settled. He just gave a jaw-cracking yawn and nuzzled in close. "Sleep now. We'll figure out the rest tomorrow."

Steve kissed the top of his head and said, "Sure, Tony. Tomorrow."

**13\. Tony**

Somehow, overnight had turned into three weeks. Tony wasn't sure how he'd convinced Steve to stay, but he certainly wasn't going to argue. Not when having Steve there meant great sex every night, and getting to know him even better every day, even if they hadn’t gotten much past handjobs and blowjobs. They had time to figure everything else out.

He already had a pretty high opinion of Steve, and now that they were spending even more time together, he was amazed to see that it held up. That wasn't usually the case - most of the time, when he got to know someone, the shine rubbed off pretty quick. The only exceptions to that had been Pepper and Rhodey. And now there was Steve, who really believed in doing the right thing, no matter the cost. 

Almost a week had passed when Pepper had showed up in the workshop. Steve had looked between the two of them, and then said quietly to Tony, "I'm going upstairs and I'm not going to listen unless you say my name. You can do this."

Once Steve had slipped out of the workshop, he'd met Pepper's eyes, expecting to see anger or sadness. Instead she just looked fond. "You look happy," she said. "Like things are working out."

"Better than I ever imagined, Pep. And it's thanks to you," he said, brushing a kiss across her cheek.

"You would have seen it eventually," she said. "You're oblivious sometimes, but you're not stupid. And this way it happened when we both could control it."

He nodded. "Right as always, Pep. Now, I'm sure you didn't come down here just to check up on me, so what went wrong where?"

She laughed, the high, tinkling laugh that indicated she was truly amused. "Why wouldn't I be checking on my favorite engineer? I really did just come down to see you, make sure that he was treating you right."

"Couldn't be better," Tony said. "But seriously, you have to have something else to bring you down here. You hate the workshop. You always tell me it's filthy."

Smiling, she said, "Because it is. But it's also the place you feel safest, and I've understood that for years. Seeing that you let him in here - that makes me happy." Tony moved to give her a hug, and she dodged, still laughing. "You're not getting me with those filthy hands. Come and have lunch with me one day. Bring Steve. I want to get to know him since he's going to be part of your life."

That led to the surreal experience of having sandwiches and chips with his ex-girlfriend and his current lover. They got on like a house on fire, which when Tony thought about it, made him nervous as hell. There was no way he could defend himself if they realized they could team up against him.

Steve didn't seem to mind when Tony got lost in an engineering haze. He just sat on the workshop couch, drawing pictures of whatever caught his fancy and teaching DUM-E to play catch. It turned out that he was even better than Pepper at telling when Tony was just spinning his wheels, and he'd tempt him out of the workshop to give him break. Sometimes it was with sex, and that was always great, but sometimes it was with food, or testing Steve's senses, or even just a walk around the block.

Tony being Tony, he hadn't been satisfied when he'd quizzed Steve about his abilities with his senses. He wanted solid, quantifiable results, and while Steve seemed mildly amused by the whole thing, he cooperated with whatever tests Tony could find or come up with on the fly. 

It was mind-boggling in a way. Everyone in the military world talked about what assets Alphas were, but Tony had never believed it. After working with Steve for a week, he still didn't know why a regular Alpha was that big of a deal - compared to Steve they were barely above Betas. Steve could pinpoint a conversation ninety stories up, tell Tony what Pepper's secretary was having for lunch, and see things blocks away as long as he had a clear line of sight. It was mind-boggling.

According to Steve, it hadn't even been this good with Bucky, a fact that made him preen a little bit. 

The only problem was that if they pushed too long, too hard, Steve would get lost in whatever he was doing and zone out. Sometimes it was just for a few moments, and Tony wouldn’t realize anything happened unless Steve mentioned it. And sometimes, it would last for minutes or even longer, and those scared the hell out of Tony. 

The other thing that scared him was that the zones seemed to be getting worse, not better. The afternoon that it took almost a half-hour to get Steve back from listening to conversations at the coffee shop across the street was apparently Steve's breaking point.

"I need to get out of here," Steve said. "I can't do this right now."

"Okay," Tony continued to rub Steve's arm soothingly. "Where do you want to go? Are you hungry? We could go get some burgers or something."

Steve bit his lip and closed his eyes for a moment, then met Tony's gaze straight on. "No, I need a few days out of the tower. Back at my apartment."

Tony's hand dropped away from Steve, his stomach plummeting to his shoes. It had seemed too good to be true, and apparently, it was. "Oh. Okay. Do you need me to get you a car?"

This time it was Steve grabbing Tony's arm. "No, no, I don't want to go by myself. I want you to come with me. Be with me, just _not here_."

His first thought was that he couldn't just walk away from the tower with no notice for an extended period of time. Then he thought again and decided that, dammit, it was his tower, and he'd certainly done stupider things for less justifiable reasons. "Can you give me an hour?" he asked, thinking of the processes that needed to be shut down.

Steve looked a little crazy around the eyes as he nodded. Letting go of Tony's arm, he went to the couch, sat down, closed his eyes, and did some of the deep breathing exercises that they'd discovered worked to keep him centered and in the moment, as woo-woo as that was.

"JARVIS, start shutting down every potentially volatile experiment in the workshop. Let me know if there's anything that absolutely can't be stopped." 

"Working, sir," JARVIS said, and various computers around the lab started their shut down processes.

"Get me Pepper, too, while you're at it," he said.

The connection rang twice before Linda answered. "I need to talk to Ms. Potts, right now," he said.

"She's with - "

Tony cut her off brutally. "I don't actually care who she's with right now. This is an emergency. Get her on the line or I'll just come down to her office."

Linda's voice was sharp and brittle. "Hold, please, Mister Stark."

Once again, he reminded himself that he needed to have their hold music changed. Maybe some AC/DC would be good instead of the mindless pablum.

"Tony,” Pepper said, sounding frustrated, “I'm meeting with - "

"Pepper, I'm taking off with Steve for a little while, but I didn't want to leave the tower without telling you," he blurted out. "I'll have my phone but if I can't answer, JARVIS will let you know."

"What? You can't just disappear," Pepper said.

"I have to, Pepper. I just had the scariest half hour since aliens attacked New York, and I'm including some very painful conversations in that. Steve needs to get out of the tower, and I'm going with him."

On the other end of the line, she just breathed for what felt like forever, and then said, "Okay. Okay. We can make this work. I don't think we have anything in the pipeline that requires your direct approval. Who do you recommend I go to if there's an emergency and I can't reach you?"

"Brenda Huber for telecommunications, Adrian Brown for energy. And that's only if you can't reach me." Tony was thankful he'd learned after Afghanistan that SI couldn't afford to have a single point of weakness. If Brenda or Adrian couldn't handle it, they had people behind them. It would be fine. "I don't know how long we'll be gone, but I'll try to keep you informed."

"Thank you," she said. "Take care of yourself, and Steve, and come back to me in one piece. Are you taking any of the suits?"

Shit, he hadn't even thought about it, but he definitely needed at least one. "I've got the Mark XI ready to go, and that's a suitcase suit. And I'll have JARVIS keep X and XII prepped in case I need something more heavy duty. They can get to me anywhere."

"All right. I need to get back to my meeting before the Senator calls someone and starts a panic. Keep me informed. I love you."

At her words, Tony unclenched a little. "I love you, too, and I know you can handle this without me. _Thank you_."

Without another word, she broke the connection. Tony looked around the workshop. "Okay, JARVIS, talk to me. Anything I can't leave undone?"

"No, sir. All processes that are dangerous have been stopped. Some fabrication is continuing, but I can oversee that with DUM-E and U. Suitcase suit is by the door to the shop. Shouldn't you pack some clothes?"

Tony slapped himself in the forehead. "What would I do without you, J?"

"Probably die in a gutter somewhere, sir," JARVIS said drily.

"Why did I give you a sense of humor?" Without waiting for an answer, he crossed to where Steve was sitting, still taking slow, deep breaths. "Steve, are we going somewhere besides Brooklyn? I need to pack some clothes and need to know what I'm taking."

Steve opened his eyes and blinked at him for a moment. When Tony thought he was going to have to repeat the question, Steve shook all over like a horse, and his eyes came into focus. "For now, I think my apartment will do. I just need less stimulation, and I'm not going to get it in downtown Manhattan."

"Okay, so jeans and t-shirts. Enough for a week. Any more than that and I can always buy some stuff if you're not up to coming back to the tower." Tony grabbed Steve by the hand and pulled him to his feet. "Upstairs so I can pack and keep an eye on you at the same time. We'll be out of here in twenty minutes."

Sounding a little more like himself, Steve said, "You know, I do have a washer and dryer, It's even right in the apartment. You don't have to buy anything if we take longer than a week. Or you could even leave me alone for the time it would take to come back here."

Tony was relieved to hear the familiar snark. "Me, do laundry? Bite your tongue." Ignoring the part about leaving Steve alone when he was like this, he hustled Steve up the stairs, grabbing the suitcase suit on the way. There was a duffel bag in his closet and it was a simple matter to stuff it with jeans, t-shirts, and underwear. A couple of pairs of socks, his tablet, and chargers for that and his phone, and he was good to go. 

A glance at his watch showed that only forty-five minutes had passed. Not bad.

"Is there anywhere I can park a car around your apartment?" Tony asked. He'd only been in the neighborhood a few times, but he'd never tried to park for more than a few minutes. While it didn't seem bad, he wasn't sure he wanted to take an expensive car and leave it on the street for a longer period.

"No, just street parking," Steve answered, and he was definitely more aware than he'd been before. "The closest garage is for street residents and doesn't have any open spaces. I finagled one because I only need room for a motorcycle."

There was no way that Tony was trekking out to Brooklyn on the subway with Steve like this. "JARVIS, is Happy in the building?" Happy usually drove Pepper these days, but if he was there and Pepper was busy, that was the best solution.

"Yes, sir. Should I have him pull around a car?"

"Yeah, to the garage elevator. We'll be there in five." Tony bent to pick up the duffel, only to bump heads with Steve, who lifted the bag first. Knowing that was a tussle he wouldn't win, he instead grabbed the suitcase suit and Steve's free hand, and headed back to the workshop and the elevator.

The elevator was standing open and ready when they got there, and started to descend as soon they were safely inside. They made it to the garage before Happy did, but Tony wasn't going to make an issue of it since Steve already looked a lot more relaxed. It wasn't like he'd given Happy a lot of warning.

"Hey, boss," Happy said as the Range Rover pulled up. "Going on a trip?"

"Just to Brooklyn for now, Happy. If we go any further, I'll let Pepper know. But we don't want me being gone to be common knowledge."

"Well, that explains why JARVIS told me to get this car." Happy put the SUV in park, got out, and took the duffel bag from Steve. "Hey, Captain Rogers. I'm just going to throw this in the trunk. You want to go ahead and get in?"

As Happy passed Tony, they exchanged glances. Long years of reading Happy's paranoia told him that he wasn't happy about this, but he wasn't going to raise a fuss, either. Climbing in next to Steve, he let Steve give Happy the address to his apartment. Pulling out his phone, he pretended to be distracted while keeping an eye on Steve out of the corner of his eye. The further they got from the tower, the more relaxed he seemed to get.

With Happy behind the wheel, and the fact that it was a dreary, rainy Saturday, traffic wasn't too bad, and they managed to get to the apartment building in a reasonable amount of time. Tony told Happy to stay in the car and the two of them slid out, Steve going around the back to grab Tony's bag.

Steve lived on the second floor in an apartment building that was probably older than he was. But it had been remodeled, and other than smelling a bit musty from being closed up for so long, it wasn't too bad. Steve looked pained, however. 

"What is it?" Tony asked, because if they needed to go somewhere else, he didn't want Happy to get too far. 

"There's a science experiment in the refrigerator," Steve said. "Once we get that cleaned out, though, I think it'll be fine."

Tony was reluctant to approach - housework was something that happened to other people - but Steve was having a bad enough day. So he opened the refrigerator. 

He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it was basically empty, and the culprit was immediately obvious - it had to be the milk in the door. "Go out on the fire escape while I dump this," Tony said, and Steve obeyed hurriedly.

Once he opened the container, he had a pretty good idea why Steve was making that face. He was also pretty sure he was never going to want milk again. But he ran hot water down the sink, rinsing the container thoroughly, and then double bagged it before he put it in the trash. 

"Okay, you can come in now," he said. 

Steve came back in through the window slowly. "Better?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, I can still smell it, but not so bad. Can we leave the window open for a bit?"

Tony looked outside, registered the temperature drop from the window being open for just a few minutes, then looked at Steve's face. No contest. "Only if we can sit together on the couch and keep each other warm," he said. 

"I can do you one better," Steve said with a grin, and disappeared into the bedroom. When he came back he was holding a knitted blanket in some of the most depressing colors he'd ever seen. 

"Where the hell did you get that monstrosity?" he asked, but he couldn't help grinning in return.

"Mrs. Mulhaney, who lives downstairs, made it for me," Steve said, still smiling. "It may be ugly, but it's warm as hell."

"Well, it's not like GQ is going to show up here to take our picture, so, sure. Why not." He went to the couch, which, while also ugly, turned out to be pretty comfortable. He carefully kept his body language open and casual, letting Steve take the lead in what was going to happen. 

He was grateful that Steve didn't hesitate. Instead, he sat down next to Tony, curling into him and wrapping them both in the monstrosity. True to Steve's word, it was definitely warm, and hell, cuddling for warmth had a long and honorable history, didn't it?

They stayed like that for a while, and gradually the tension bled out of Steve as he relaxed, becoming a warm, comforting weight against Tony’s side. Tony felt an almost warm feeling in his chest, one that he'd only ever seemed to feel around Steve, and it made everything feel _right_.

Slowly, he drifted off to sleep, arm securely around Steve. He didn't care that his back was probably going to complain later. Right then, it was what Steve seemed to need.

The apartment was mostly dark by the time Tony woke up, and the pull in his gut was more noticeable. His head was also full of fog, and his first thought was that the afternoon nap had thrown him off.

Then he realized that Steve was giving off a lot more heat than could be explained by the warm blanket, and that the other man was moving restlessly. "Steve?" Tony called softly, trying to wake him up without startling him.

The only reaction he got was for Steve to clutch him even tighter and moan softly. Cursing, he wished they were still at the tower, where he'd have been able to have JARVIS do a scan to see if Steve was sick in some way.

Thinking was getting harder, but the fact that it was really cold in the apartment finally penetrated into his mind. "Okay, first thing, I need to close the window," he muttered to himself. It took some squirming to extricate himself from Steve's arms, but he managed eventually and stumbled over to the window, pulling it closed. The radiator right under the window was already hot, so the apartment would warm up quickly. 

He couldn't figure out why he was so muddle-headed. He'd been awake long enough that he should have shaken off any nap-induced grogginess. And the longer he was away from Steve, the worse he felt. As that fact trickled in, Tony felt mounting fear. Not knowing what else to do, he dug out his phone. "JARVIS, find me Coulson," he said.

Now that he was paying attention, his skin felt too small, too tight, and the draw towards Steve was almost unbearable. And he was definitely wet in places he wasn't used to feeling it. Suspicion building, he waited impatiently for JARVIS to complete his task.

"Tony?" Phil's voice came through the phone's speaker. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sure this is rude as hell," Tony said, not actually caring but needing Phil to not just hang up on him. "But what does full-blown heat feel like?"

"One second," Phil said. There was the sound of the phone being set down and a door closing. Then he said, "I take it that you think you're going into heat again?"

Tony felt like he was right on the edge of hysteria. "I don't understand - I thought we had at least eight weeks before we'd have to deal with this!"

"Well, shit," Phil said. "I guess I owe Clint ten bucks."

"That isn't funny!" Tony squawked. "I have no idea what I'm doing here, I can't get Steve to wake up, and I feel like if I move any farther away my skin is going to rip itself off trying to get to him."

Phil's voice sobered. "No, you're right, it's not funny. And what you're saying is a pretty good description of the beginning of a rut/heat cycle. I owe Clint ten bucks because he said Captain Rogers’ cycle would come on fast and hard once he was with an Omega that he was actually sleeping with, and I didn't believe him."

"So what the hell do I do?" Tony demanded. "I mean, I know in general, and we were headed this way, but I don't... I haven't... I can't just strip Steve naked without talking about it."

"No, you shouldn't," Phil said, his voice soothing. "But physical contact _will_ make it more bearable. You don't have to touch him right now if you don't want to, though. If you keep your distance, he will realize that you're not there and wake up. I can't guarantee how orientated he'll be, though."

"Okay, obviously I'm not going to leave the room," Tony said, as much to himself as to Phil. "But if I sit in the chair next to the couch, he should wake up?"

Phil's voice was steady and sure. "He'll wake up, Tony. Rut can be hard when it starts, and if it begins when the Alpha is asleep, they can be a little disoriented. This is all normal, even if a little faster than we had predicted. Sit down, take some deep breaths, and see if he'll respond to you calling him if you're not touching him."

"I can do that," Tony said, curling up in the armchair. "But then what do I do? He's not exactly going to be in his right mind. I'm not even sure _I'm_ in my right mind right now."

"Tony? He's resisted heats before and I guarantee that between being an Alpha and being Captain Steve Rogers? He's going to refuse to touch you unless you make it very clear that you welcome that touch. It'd be hard to do, but he'd find a way. He's not going to force you to do anything you don't want to."

Tony snorted. "I'm not worried about him forcing _me_. We just never got around to discussing this and how we wanted to handle it."

Phil was so quiet that Tony actually checked the phone to make sure he hadn't lost the connection. "Tony, I can't tell you what to do. This is a choice for you to make. But I guarantee that if Steve didn't want this, he would have made it clear long before he went into rut. Have you ever known him not to tell you when he didn't like something?"

Tony had to admit that Phil was right. "Okay, see if he wakes up, see where it takes us. If we don't do anything, it's going to feel worse, isn't it?"

"Yes. And remember what I told you - if there are any Alpha/Omega pairings in the tower, you should probably have them sent home."

"We're not at the tower," Tony said. "Steve wanted to go to his apartment."

"He took you back to his apartment?" Phil sighed. "That's a pretty classic denning sign, actually. If I'd known, I'd have warned you that this was a possibility."

"Do you mean that he knew this was going to happen?" Tony asked. Keeping his distance from Steve was getting harder as every nerve in his body demanded that he get closer, that they at least touch. And he was throbbing, like his whole body was feeling his pulse, but it was definitely centered in his ass.

"Probably not consciously," Phil said. "Look, I'll be here if you need me. If you think you can't handle it, call me back, and we'll dose up on suppressants and come to help. But I think you've got this."

"I've got this," Tony repeated, trying to sound certain, and knowing that he was falling far short of it. "Okay. I'll call you if I need you."

"You do that." And Phil disconnected the call.

Tony found himself reaching towards Steve, and it took every bit of self-control he had to not touch. "Steve? Steve, I need you to wake up," he called. "Come on, Sleeping Beauty. Open your eyes for me."

Steve startled moving even more restlessly on the sofa, his hands groping as if trying to find something. "Bucky? Buck... no, not Bucky. Tony?" 

His eyes opened, but even in the dim light Tony could tell that Steve wasn't focusing on anything in particular. "Come on, Steve. I'm right here, and I need you to wake up."

Steve turned his head, and Tony felt pinned in place by his eyes, like a butterfly to a display. "Tony? What... It's too soon for rut."

Tony wanted to laugh hysterically, but instead he just shook his head. "Just got off the phone with Coulson," he said. "Apparently this isn't unexpected."

"Why are you way over there?" Steve asked, but he made no move to go to Tony.

"Because I need you to tell me what you want," Tony said. "And I need you as clear-headed as possible for that."

"Do you have to ask?" Steve's voice dropped even lower, and the very sound of it burned Tony to the core, made him want to roll over and expose his belly, and oh, god, this was going to happen. 

"Then come and get me," Tony said.

Steve moved slowly, telegraphing his intentions, and then pounced. 

**14\. Steve**

Steve had no idea that the need for sex could be this overwhelming. He'd thought resisting it had been hard when Bucky was his Omega, but with Tony the need was all-consuming. It was all he could do not to just rip off Tony's clothes and take him right there, on the floor.

Tony was definitely _not_ helping, kissing and stroking every inch of Steve that he could reach. When his hand brushed over Steve's clothed cock, the last of Steve's self control snapped.

Frantic, he tried to strip both of them at once and got absolutely nowhere. He couldn't seem to get coordinated enough to deal with two pairs of pants, frustrated by zippers and the fact that he only had two hands. Thankfully, Tony seemed to realize the problem and pulled his hands back to unzip his own pants, shoving them down and off.

That freed Steve to get his cock out, ignoring the sound of ripping seams, and then he attacked Tony's mouth again. He was rubbing against every part of Tony he could reach, too far gone to really be able think about what he was doing. But when Tony started to struggle underneath him, Steve started to panic. Had Tony changed his mind? Had Steve hurt him?

He released his grip, backing off hurriedly, only to have Tony flip over on his stomach.

Oh. _Oh_ , oh, this was actually going to happen. They had never gotten this far in the weeks they'd been having sex since they thought they'd have more time, but his body seemed to know what to do, even if his brain didn't.

He managed to maintain just enough thought to slip his fingers down the crack of Tony's ass to check, only to find his hole wet enough to slip one finger in easily. "Tony," he said, his voice a low growl. "Tony, tell me if this is okay."

In response, Tony pulled his knees under him, pushing his ass up, while lowering his face to the floor. The submissive pose hit a primal part of Steve's brain and he surged up, kneeling between Tony's spread legs. Pressing the head of his cock to Tony's opening, he slowly started to press forward, the head of his cock slipping in, past the tight ring of muscle.

He meant to pause, knew he should wait for Tony to adjust, but Tony groaned out one word, "Yes..." Steve could almost feel the want echoing between them and kept pushing in further. 

If he'd thought Tony's mouth was amazing, it was nothing compared to Tony's ass. it was hot and tight, and slick with something that had a scent that was going to haunt Steve's dreams. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," he chanted as he bottomed out, balls-deep inside Tony.

His body seemed to know what to do, even if his brain still didn't, and he set up a fast rhythm. Tony groaned, "Perfect. So perfect. Keep going."

Like Steve actually had a choice. His brain had given up all control to his hormones, and all he could do was drive in and in and in, trying to make himself one with Tony, join them in a way that he'd never been joined with anyone before.

Some part of him realized he needed to know that Tony was going to get off before he did. He leaned forward, sliding his hand around Tony's hip to grip his cock, which was hard and leaking. As he started to stroke, Tony groaned again, melting in Steve's hold, telling him that he was Steve's as clearly as if he had said it out loud.

Wait, he _was_ saying it - chanting, "Yours, yours, yours," as Steve stripped Tony's cock quickly, desperate to make him come.

Steve focused his efforts on the area right under the head of Tony's cock, the place where Steve liked to be stroked when he was close. All he wanted to do was _come_ , but he also was desperate to complete the bond. As Tony finally started to come in his hand, Steve felt his own cock swelling, his first-ever knot.

That seemed to trigger something in Tony as he forced it in, Tony crying out and tossing his head. "Yes, yes, yes," Tony chanted, trailing off into soft whimpering sounds as Steve's knot tied them together. Tony was still coming, slow spurts, and with every twitch of Steve's body, he let out a little more come.

Tony's come both felt and smelled different than usual, and Steve knew that scent was going to be burned into his brain forever.

His own orgasm actually gave him a little bit of clarity in his thinking, and he carefully guided them over onto their sides. As Tony's orgasm finally came to an end, he tentatively pulled back, only to be reminded that they weren’t moving anywhere. They were definitely tied together.

Since he couldn't move anyway, he wrapped his arms around Tony, pulling the other man back into the curve of his body. "God," he groaned. Tony was still so hot and tight around his cock, and so right in his arms. It felt so good, and all Steve wanted was to hold on, make his claim and stake clear. 

"Mine," he whispered into Tony's ear, who moaned and pushed back into him. Now he could finally see why all of those other Alphas had looked at him weird when he'd made it through another rut cycle without fucking Bucky. And if he had his way, he was never going to be in that situation again. 

"You okay?" Tony asked, his voice deep and scratchy.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Steve responded. "Didn't exactly give you a lot of prep. Not like we talked about, anyway."

Tony laughed a little, the vibration shaking itself right up Steve's spine. "Apparently I misjudged the effect that heat was going to have on my body. I'm good."

As his knot started to deflate, Steve couldn't help but shift a little bit, pulling groans from both of them. He felt like he could go again, but he also realized that they were lying on the floor, they were both still mostly dressed, and this was going to get pretty uncomfortable if they didn't move.

When he started to pull out, Tony grabbed his arm and whimpered. Steve froze. "What's wrong?"

"Not ready for you to stop just yet," Tony said. "It still feels good."

Steve chuckled and pressed a kiss to the top of Tony's head. "Trust me, you're going to be sick of me in about three days. But right now, we'd be more comfortable on the bed."

Tony lifted his head and looked around, and Steve realized that he wasn't the only one who had been out of it. "Oh, we're on the floor, aren't we?"

"Yeah, and you still have your shirt on," Steve said. "Wouldn't this be better if we actually got out of our clothes and went to bed?"

"You gonna fuck me again?" Tony slurred out.

"Just as soon as we get there," Steve promised, and Tony finally released his grip on Steve's arm. 

Steve slowly slid out, groaning at the loss of the tight grip around his cock. He was still mostly hard, but some of the blood had returned to his upstairs brain, and he carefully got both of them upright.

They stripped off the rest of their clothes right where they stood. Tony's clothes were still in one piece, but Steve had managed to rip the entire fly out of his pants, not that he actually cared at the moment. As soon as they were both naked, he took Tony by the hand and started pulling him towards the bedroom.

He wasn't going to be able to wait to get inside Tony again. Maybe once they were done with this, he could try some of the things Tony had described, but right now he just needed to fuck.

One difference he discovered quickly about this rut was that unlike when he was fighting his instincts, he wasn't hungry at all. It shocked him - it seemed that they both should have been starving from all of their exertions, but they were both more interested in fucking in every possible position than eating. It was all Steve could do to remember that they needed to stay hydrated, and pull away occasionally to get water for both of them.

Tony seemed surprised that Steve didn't come until Tony did. Steve didn't have the words or brain power to say that it was the smell of Tony's come, the feel of him clenching down, that set off Steve's own orgasm. He tried to make a mental note to explain it when both of them had functional brains again.

Then he forgot it in favor of fucking Tony again, this time with Tony sitting in his lap.

The feeling of rut slowly receded, leaving true clarity of thought for the first time in days. He wasn't sure how long had passed or how many times they'd fucked, but his body was finally letting up on its demand for more.

They were both covered in their bodily fluids, sticky with sweat and come, but it didn't matter. Tony was drowsing in his arms, and he wrapped himself around Tony, closed his eyes, and let sleep take him.

When his eyes blinked open again, it appeared to be late afternoon from the angle that the sun was coming in through the window; Steve couldn't tell if it was the same day or the next. Tony was stretched out next to him, sound asleep, and Steve resolved to let him wake up on his own. There wasn't anywhere that they needed to be, anyway. 

Stretching, he scratched at his chest. They both needed showers badly, but it could wait a little longer. While Tony slept, Steve let his senses stretch out, amazed at how easy it seemed. He could hear everything on the block without even thinking about it.

He could tell that there was someone on the roof, and when he listened he could hear the person's radio, which identified them as a member of SHIELD. Steve guessed they must have had a guard put on them to be safe.

Then he heard a soft _thump, thump, thump_. Fuck, that was a combat helicopter, and it was coming in low and fast.

Jumping out of bed, he snagged a pair of sleep pants from the dresser, slid into them, grabbed his shield, and made for the fire escape. He wasn't going to let a SHIELD agent go down alone.

**15\. Tony**

Tony went from being sound asleep to wide awake in a split second. For a moment, he was unsure of where he was or why he wasn't in his own bed. Then caught sight of Steve bolting out of the bedroom.

He started to say something, only to have impressions flood his awareness. Steve was alert, headed up, and adrenaline was starting to flood his system. Tony wasn't sure exactly what was going on, or why he could feel what was going on with Steve, but there was no time to ask. Instead, he jumped out of the bed and headed for the suitcase suit. Whatever had Steve stressed was something that needed to be dealt with.

It was never comfortable to wear the suit naked, but Tony didn't think he had time to get dressed. Placing his palm flat on the case, it grew warm as it read his palm print. Within seconds, the case was unfolding and shaping itself into the suit, surrounding Tony. 

As soon as the visor came down, he said, "JARVIS, sitrep. Where's Steve?"

"Captain Rogers is going up the fire escape to the roof," JARVIS said. "There's a MI-24M hovering over the building, and there are 8 hostiles engaging with the SHIELD agent stationed up there."

"Fuck. Okay - first thing is to get rid of the helicopter," Tony said. "Need to find a way to do that without taking out a building." Steve had left the window wide open, so Tony blew through it, not pausing to worry if he was damaging the frame. He'd fix it later.

Steve was almost to the roof when Tony blew past him, aimed right at the helicopter. He could tell when the pilot spotted him, because the under-nose canon opened fire, bullets pinging off the armor harmlessly. That was fine - if they were pointed at him, they weren't pointed at Steve, who wasn't even wearing his uniform, much less body armor.

He didn't give the crew time to realize that they needed to use some of their heavier armaments, slamming into the helicopter right behind the canon mount. Using his thrusters, he pushed the helicopter up and away. "J, nearest large body of water?" he asked as he continue to overpower the helicopter. Damn Russian helicopters - he could never remember their specs. "And remind me where the steering cables are on this thing?"

The relevant section lit up in the schematic projected in his HUD, and he said, "Bingo. Blow 'em." Some of the small missiles from his shoulders launched, blasting through the base of the helicopter and cutting right through the cables, making Tony the only thing keeping the helicopter from spinning out of control. Two more shots and the rotors were cut as well, turning the whole thing into deadweight. The crew was hanging out of the door and shooting at him with handguns, but that was no more annoying than a couple of mosquitos.

In the meantime, JARVIS had found the location Tony had requested. This time of year, Tony didn't expect many people on the water, and a quick scan showed he was correct. Straining to keep the helicopter in the air and moving, he triggered the radio and said, "SHIELD, this is Iron Man. I am en route to Jamaica Bay with a helicopter in tow. I'm dumping it there - might want to send someone to collect the crew before they drown."

"I'm sorry, Iron Man. Did you say that you have a helicopter in tow?" Jesus, save him from the slow agents.

Tony sighed. Speaking in order to communicate was so inefficient. "Affirmative. ETA two minutes. Might also want to get a crew to Captain Rogers’ apartment - there is an ongoing attack on the roof. As soon as I dump this fucking thing I'm headed back."

Fury's voice came through. "We've got you on radar, Iron Man. Agent Scott already reported the attack. Dump that ‘copter and get back to the fight."

"You got it," Tony said. He let go of the helicopter as soon as he was far enough over the bay, watching as it tumbled down into the water. He didn't wait around to see if the crew made it out before it started to sink - they could drown for all he cared.

Getting back to Steve's building, he found that four of the enemy combatants were down - HYDRA, he assumed - but so was the SHIELD agent. Steve was standing over him, deflecting gunshots, clad only in a pair of pajama pants. 

Tony came in from behind, colliding full force with two of the HYDRA goons still on their feet. Neither seemed like they were going to be in a hurry to get up, which was just fine with Tony. They had attacked and prevented him from getting the after-heat afterglow he deserved. 

He flipped over and skidded to halt right in front of Steve on three points, his right repulsor pointed at them. "I think we should kill them," he said. "I'm pretty pissed right now."

Steve's amusement was a palpable thing through whatever it was that was pulsing between them, the bond or something else. It was disconcerting and highly interesting at the same time. Tony set that aside to deal with when they weren’t in a fight. For the moment, he just held position, letting Steve take the lead.

"I don't know, I've had a good couple of days, makes me pretty happy with the world," Steve said. "Of course, I'd be a lot happier if you two would drop your guns so that I can keep that happy mood. If you don't, I might actually have to get mad."

The goons looked at the rest of their team, scattered across the roof and either bleeding or groaning, looked at each other, and then dropped their guns.

"Good choice," Steve said. "Iron Man, do you want to get rid of their weapons? They don't need them anymore."

It only took a minute to gather all of the weapons in a pile next to Steve, and by then he could hear the distinctive sound of a quinjet approaching. Steve's building wasn't large enough for it to land on, so it hovered over them and several agents rappelled down before it landed in the street. At that point Tony could hear sirens coming, as well. 

He fought the instinctive urge to step back and let Steve continue to take the lead. He didn't know if it was because of the bond or because Steve was just that good of a leader, and he didn't really care. He was not just going to step into the background. 

Given what they'd been doing for the last couple of days, he almost expected for the agents to look at him differently. Clearly at least some people at SHIELD knew, or there wouldn't have been an agent on the roof in the first place.

But no one looked at him funny. They both got questioned about what had happened, asked if either of them needed medical care, and then they were left to their own devices. It was almost anticlimactic.

It didn't take long for almost everyone to clear out. The quinjet took off with the prisoners and the downed agent, leaving Steve and Tony, his helmet retracted, standing on the roof with Clint and Phil. 

"So you guys finally got it together, huh?" Clint said, amusement clear in his voice.

Tony ignored him and looked over at Phil. "Can I shoot him? Just a little bit?"

Phil laughed and said, "I understand the urge, but no, you can't. And you can't really blame him. You should see your neck."

Resisting the urge to touch his throat, he turned to look at Steve, who got a chagrined look in his eyes. "You bit me, didn't you?" Tony asked, resigned.

"I didn't _mean_ to! I don't even remember doing it," Steve said quickly. "Um, but yeah, with your helmet down it's pretty visible."

"Fine." He turned to look at Clint. "That was your one comment. Next time, I'm dropping you off the roof without your grappling arrow."

"Spoil all my fun," Clint said, but he sounded amused. "I guess we can be thankful that they didn't come sooner, or that could have been _awkward_."

"Aw, fuck it," Tony said, heading towards Clint. Maybe Steve wouldn't let him drop Clint off the roof, but he was going to at least give him a good poke.

Clint backpedaled. "Okay, okay. I'll leave you alone."

Phil stepped in between the two of them neatly. "He does have a point, Tony. If we'd known with enough warning, we'd have gotten you into one of our safehouses. An attack in the middle of a cycle is never fun." Before Tony could point out that he hadn't known that it was going to happen until it had already started, Phil held up one hand. "Now you know what it feels like, so it'll be easier to predict next time."

It was Steve who said, "I'll know next time, even if Tony doesn't realize it. I'm not sure how I'd do off my own turf, but we'll at least try to go."

"That's all we ask, Steve," Phil said. "We're not used to having to protect you two."

"Well, if that's all, we're going back to the apartment," Steve said. "I'm not exactly dressed for this. You two can use the fire escape to follow us in."

That made Tony realize again that Steve was in a pair of pajama pants that had clearly seen better days, no shirt or shoes, and he was shivering slightly from the cold. "Yeah, let's go," he said. When Steve turned towards the fire escape, Tony went into a hover and scooped him up in a bridal carry. Steve gave a delighted laugh, and held on as Tony carried them down to Steve's window.

He was gratified to realize that he'd made it through the window without substantial damage - just a bit of scorching on the frame. Dropping Steve to his feet once they were inside, he said in a whisper, "Just so you know, I'm naked under the suit."

Steve got a very peculiar look on his face. "I know that's hot in theory," he said after a moment, "but I might actually be fucked out."

Clint and Phil climbed in through the window, and Clint leered at Tony, which reminded him that he was an Alpha as well. "Don't worry, Captain. It'll only be down for a day or two. Then you'll be back to whatever counts as normal for the two of you."

"Good to know." Steve's ears were red, and Tony wagered it was not from the cold. "And on that note, we need to shower and eat, so, while it's always good to see you, I think you should probably go."

Before Clint could say anything else, Phil had him by the arm and was pulling him towards the door. "We'll debrief more fully tomorrow. Call me to set it up," he said to Tony, and then the door slammed behind them.

**16\. Steve**

It felt like the first time in seventy years that Steve was thinking completely clearly. With that clarity came the understanding of the changes he had caused in Tony's life, and everything he had caused to happen. 

He needed to apologize, but before he could make his mouth work, Tony's suit started to retract, leaving him standing there naked, the suitcase at his feet. All the words turned to dust on Steve's lips.

Tony smiled, as if he knew the effect he was having on Steve. With the new bond, he probably did. "I need a shower," he said. "So do you."

Steve shook his head. "Shower here isn't big enough for both of us, and if we try anyway, we'll run out of hot water before we both get clean. You go first. I'll just... there's a delivery service in the neighborhood. I'll get us food. Want anything in particular?"

Leaning in, Tony brushed a kiss across Steve's cheek. "I'm in the mood for shawarma. Think you can get that?"

It felt like he was blushing like a schoolgirl, which made no sense after the last couple of days, but Steve managed to stutter out that he'd find some. He then stared as Tony sauntered away towards the bathroom. Even with his cock down for the count, Tony had one mighty fine ass.

Finding his phone, he realized it had been four days since they'd arrived in the apartment, and since then, they'd had sex non-stop and fought HYDRA. No wonder he was absolutely ravenous all of a sudden. He found the app that Clint had showed him, and started ordering just about everything that looked good. He even found shawarma. Normally, he would have blanched at the total, but he was in a good mood.

He heard a shriek from the bathroom, and realized that Tony hadn't taken him seriously about running out of hot water. By the time Tony appeared in the doorway, though, he'd managed to get his face under control so he didn't look like he was laughing.

There was no way he was waiting a half hour for the water heater to get back to temperature, so he resigned himself to a cold shower. Wouldn't be the first time, but he was looking forward to getting back to the tower. "I'll be right back."

While he scrubbed hurriedly, he rehearsed what he was going to say to Tony. He felt amazing - centered and clear-headed and like he could take on the world. At the same time, he felt guilty that those feelings came at the cost of some of Tony's independence. He knew he had to apologize for upending Tony's life like this.

As soon as he was clean enough, he got out of the shower, toweled off, and got dressed. He made it out into the living room just in time to see Tony taking delivery of several bags of food.

The smells of all the different types of food went straight to his stomach. He helped Tony spread the containers on the counter and get down plates. Then both of them fell on the food and started eating like they were never going to stop.

Tony slowed first, but Steve was still hungry enough to not be embarrassed by the need to keep eating. By the time he was comfortably full, they had demolished ninety percent of what he'd ordered. And Steve couldn't put it off any more.

He cautiously reached out to take Tony's hand, bracing himself against the contact, only to have the bond between them intensify at the touch and seem to bounce back and forth for several long seconds. Until it settled, he wasn't sure which way was up, whose feelings he was feeling. Things eventually evened out, and he tugged Tony's hand, pulling him over to the couch. 

Glancing at where they'd started their cycles, he realized that Tony had picked up all the dirty clothes, and the only evidence of it was a stain on the carpet. 

Carefully, trying to make it clear that he was being as honest as he could be, he met Tony's eyes. "I'm sorry, Tony. I didn't - I had no idea it would be like this."

Tony shook his head. "I've never felt anything like this either - I didn't even know that Alpha/Omega bonds could be this intense," Tony said. "None of the reading I did said anything about this kind of sensory connection."

Thinking back, Steve realized what Tony was referring to. "I didn't know about it either. I didn't have that with Bucky and I've never heard any other pairing talk about something like it. It's... it's weird to have you in my head like this, and we're going to have to figure it out."

"That's an understatement," Tony said. "It's really freaky. I don’t understand what’s going on. I hate when I don’t know what’s going on and I’m pretty sure the only reason that I’m not more worried is that I’m too tired to be. Once we both feel up to it, we need to talk to Coulson again, though."

Steve smiled at how disgruntled Tony looked at having to talk to the Agent about anything. He needed to finish his original thought, though. "I didn't - I wasn’t - I didn't mean to ruin your life."

He wasn't sure what reaction he was going to get, but laughter was definitely not something he'd considered. 

"Ruin my life?" Tony asked eventually, still giggling. "You think you ruined my life? This is the best thing that has ever happened to me. You most certainly did not ruin it."

"But you had a relationship before I got there," Steve said, determined to make sure that the air was completely clear.

Tony sobered. "You mean this, don't you? You honestly think that I'm going to be upset over this? Steve, what I have with you is amazing. And while I'm sad that it meant breaking up with Pepper, she was smart enough to force the issue while we could still be friends. I'm going to have to treat her to a shoe shopping spree."

Steve blinked. "You take Pepper shopping for shoes?" He had trouble imagining Tony shopping for women's shoes.

"Oh, hell, no. I just give her my credit card and carte blanche to use it. Not that she actually needs my permission - she can have my card any time she likes. It's the thought that counts or some shit." Tony squeezed his hand. "She always told me that I had to use my words, so I guess this is one of those times."

"Steve, I won't lie and say I would have chosen this. But I would have been wrong. You did _not_ ruin my life, unless I ruined yours as well." Tony pulled his hand away, only to touch Steve's cheek quickly. "We'll figure it out."

"Together," Steve said.

"Right, together," Tony agreed.

**17\. Epilogue - Fury**

Fury looked up as Hill came into his office. “Do you have the report for me?”

She dropped a thin packet on his desk. “It’s him, sir. He’s back.”

Fury flipped open to the first page and reviewed the summary page of the report as Hill saw herself out.

_Enemy combatant, code-name Winter Soldier, spotted in Los Angeles, California. Apparent target was Doctor Diane Padilla, who has been working with SHIELD on analyzing samples taken from Steve Rogers, code-name Captain America, both in the 1940s and right after he was unfrozen. She, as well as her SHIELD guard, were both shot execution-style hours after Winter Soldier was spotted. He was not seen at the residence, and no fingerprints or DNA was recovered, which is consistent with his known methodology._

_Local team attempted to find him at last known location, but while a few people mentioned seeing someone suspicious, there was nothing resembling a solid lead. There were brief glimpses on various security cameras, but nothing clear enough to get a good look at the combatant's face or a solid description. Local police are treating this as a gang related killing."_

God **dammit**.


End file.
